NCERA180: Precision Agriculture Technologies for Food, Fiber, and Energy Production
(Multistate Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group)
Status: Active
Date of Annual Report: 10/26/2023
Report Information
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2022 - 09/30/2023
Participants
K. Muthu Muthukumarappan, Dept Head, ABE, South Dakota State University - NCERA 180 - Admin AdvisorChris Hamilton, NC regional multistate projects coordinator, NIMSS system admin, and NCRA Assistant Director.
Steve Thomson, National Program Leader, USDA-NIFA
John Fulton, Ohio State University
Joby Czarnecki, Assoc. Res. Prof. - Mississippi State University
Rob Proulx, NDSU Extension, Agriculture Technology Systems Specialist
Peter Kovacs, South Dakota State Univ.
Pedro Andrade - University of Arizona
John Evans, Purdue University
Madison Dixon, Associate Director, Agricultural Autonomy Institute, Mississippi State University.
Wesley Porter, University of Georgia Tipton Campus
Amir Haghverdi, Associate Professor, University of California Riverside
Ignacio Ciampitti, Kansas State University
David Mulla, University of Minnesota
Elizabeth Hawkins, Ohio State University
Mary Love Tagert, Mississippi State University Extension
Andre FB Reis, University of Missouri
Alex Thomasson, Mississippi State University
Wes Lowe, Mississippi State University
Manoj Karkee, Professor, Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Systems
Nicholas Uilk, South Dakota State University
Brief Summary of Minutes
Accomplishments
<p>Meetings will be the primary mechanism used to achieve the stated objectives. This organization of multi-disciplinary, multi-state, and multi-commodity efforts has been the most significant achievement of NCERA-180. Participants and stakeholders will meet annually to discuss potential projects, disseminate research results, and share Extension and educational advancements. Past meetings have drawn large numbers of multi-disciplinary research and stakeholders. To ensure continued participation, lessons learned during the pandemic in virtual and hybrid meetings will be leveraged.</p><br /> <p>We had a successful annual zoom meeting organized by the current Chair. During this meeting all the participants shared their capabilities and looked for opportunities to further their collaboration in exploring several PA technologies. We have elected new slate of officers and plan to host an in-person event in 2024. Further deatils on the 2024 In-Person annual meeeting will be shared with all the partipcating station members.</p>Publications
<p>N/A</p>Impact Statements
- Based on the discussion during NCERA-180 annual meeting, we will collaborate with industry and funding agencies for them to better understand the critical gaps in PA technologies and practices. This will help define the direction of future efforts in this space.
Date of Annual Report: 10/04/2024
Report Information
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2023 - 09/30/2024
Participants
Brief Summary of Minutes
Accomplishments
Publications
Impact Statements
Date of Annual Report: 08/04/2025
Report Information
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2024 - 09/30/2025
Participants
• Peter Kovacs, South Dakota State University,• Kasiviswanathan Muthu Muthukumarappan, South Dakota State University,
• John Fulton, Ohio State University
• Rob Proulx, North Dakota State University Extension,
• Natasha Rayne, University of Wisconsin
• Simerjeet Virk, Auburn University
• Alex Thomasson, Mississippi State University
• Won Suk Lee, University of Florida
• Glen Reins, University of Georgia
• Guillermo Balboa, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
• Nick Uilk, South Dakota State University
• Van Kelley, South Dakota State University
• Dharmendra Saraswat, Purdue University
• Abhilash Chandel, Virginia Tech University
• Sunoj Shajahan, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• Manoj Karkee, Cornell University
• Rupak Karn, North Dakota State University, Carrington Research Extension Center
• Jennifer Lachowiec, Montana State University (online)
• Amire Verdi, University of California, Riverside
• Mahendra Bhandari, Texas A&M
Brief Summary of Minutes
Accomplishments
<p>Meetings is the primary mechanism used to achieve the stated objectives. This organization of multi-disciplinary, multi-state, and multi-commodity efforts has been the most significant achievement of NCERA-180. Participants and stakeholders meet annually to discuss potential projects, disseminate research results, and share Extension and educational advancements. Past meetings have drawn large numbers of multi-disciplinary research and stakeholders. To ensure continued participation, lessons learned during the pandemic in virtual and hybrid meetings will be leveraged.</p><br /> <p>We had a successful annual meeting organized by the current Chair collaborating with the S-1069 work group. During this meeting all the participants shared their capabilities, current research efforts, and looked for opportunities to further their collaboration in exploring several PA technologies, and educational efforts. We have elected new slate of officers. Further deatils on the 2026 annual meeeting will be shared with all the partipcating station members.</p>Publications
<p>N/A</p>Impact Statements
- Based on the discussion during NCERA-180 annual meeting, we will collaborate with industry and funding agencies for them to better understand the critical gaps in PA technologies and practices. This will help define the direction of future efforts in this space.
Date of Annual Report: 08/28/2026
Report Information
Period the Report Covers: 06/01/2025 - 08/28/2026
Participants
Those in attendance in person and their affiliation: • Joby Czarnecki (Mississippi State University) • John Fulton (the Ohio State University) • Elizabeth Hawkins (the Ohio State University) • Peter Kovacs (South Dakota State University) • Lauren Lazaro (University of Georgia) • Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan (South Dakota State University) • Ricardo Pinto (Montana State University) • Natasha Rayne (University of Wisconsin) • Alex Thomasson (Mississippi State University) • Simerjeet Virk (Auburn University) Online attendees giving updates and their affiliation: • Viacheslav Adamchuk (McGill University) • Guillermo Balboa (University of Nebraska) • Amir Verdi (University of California Riverside) • Ce Yang (University of Minnesota)Brief Summary of Minutes
Welcome and introductions: The on-site group convened at the Agriculture Autonomy Institute at Mississippi State University. Initial welcome was offered by the MSU Vice President of the Division of Agriculture, Forestry, and Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Keith Coble. Himself a champion for data-driven decision making and precision agriculture, Dr. Coble took a personal interest in offering encouragement to participants and his support for our project. Participants introduced themselves to each other following this welcome.
Sessions. The group engaged with outside speakers for two morning sessions. The first was dedicated to on-farm decision making and featured presentations from Ryan Magness and Ivo Müller of Southern Ag, followed by Dr. Mark McConnell from the MSU Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture. Key points of discussion from the session: (1) Research supports reduced seeding rates can produce higher yields at lower cost. Who do we encourage producers to reduce seed populations when we are up against industry models that suggest higher populations, not lower populations, are the solution to poor stand? (2) How do we incentive profitable conservation enrollment on underperforming acres for the long term? The second session focused on planting technology with presentations from group members as well as Dr. Wes Lowe from the MSU Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. Key point of discussion from the session: At what point does the decision to purchase capable farm equipment generate a return on investment?
Updates. Following the lunch break, the Teams meeting commenced to allow virtual attendees to participate. All on-site members provided university updates for their respective universities and on-line attendees also gave reports for their units. Dr. Steve Thomson from USDA NIFA provided an update on the funding outlook and key programs that are of particular interest to the group.
Business meeting. Dr. Muthukumarappan led off the discussion about the future of NCERA180. This project is slated to end in 2027, thus, to continue the group needs to pursue writing a new proposal. The consensus was that the members present found the coordination and interaction valuable and were interested in pursuing re-application. Some discussion was held to ascertain if it would be advantageous to transition from an ERA type group to a research group; however, this would largely remove thrusts related to education and Extension and these activities are meaningful to the broader group. Thus, the decision was made to continue as an ERA despite the challenges this poses to obtaining travel funds at most universities. Some potential suggestions to alleviate this concern included holding the meeting in conjunction with other well-attended meetings popular with the membership (e.g., ICPA, ASABE, CANVAS). In anticipation of this outcome, a draft re-application proposal and a membership survey was presented. The survey is intended to obtain feedback on future objectives and activities. The survey will be circulated within the members to allow broad participation from those who were not able to attend. Based on the feedback, the new proposal will be finalized and submitted in advance of deadlines. A new section has been added to the application that specifically requests information related to collaborative grants and other funding opportunities.
Tours. On the second day, the on-site participants visited MSU research facilities to interact with MSU researchers and witness demonstrations. The first stop was a trip to the Bearden Dairy Research Farm where Dr. Marcus McGee and graduate students discussed their advanced systems for livestock management. These include a robotic herding platform that uses computer vision and sensing systems and an integrated camera-accelerator system that monitors cow health and activity to collect data on breeding and health within herds. The second stop was at the Leveck Animal Research Center and featured demonstrations and discussion first on computer vision-based weed control in turfgrass provided by Dr. Jay McCurdy from the MSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. Dr. McCurdy and his team discussed opportunities and challenges related to dallisgrass control in managed turfgrass and their experience with the Ecorobotix AURA, which was also available for demonstration. The group then continued to meet the team from the Agricultural Autonomy Institute who led demonstrations and discussions on spray drone technology and open needs for research and extension. Excitement was palpable as the group returned to the air-conditioned delights of the Institute’s mechatronics laboratory on the last stop of the tour. Participants were able to interact with a cohort of graduate students working under Dr. Hussein Gharakhani as individual students discussed their research projects and demonstrated robotic systems for crop management.