{"id":38519,"date":"2024-10-24T10:25:15","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T14:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/crop-and-soil-sciences-new\/news\/creating-cutting-edge-ag-tech\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T09:55:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T14:55:16","slug":"creating-cutting-edge-ag-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cals.ncsu.edu\/crop-and-soil-sciences\/news\/creating-cutting-edge-ag-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Cutting-Edge Ag Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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Nearly 50 NC State University undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars spent a fall weekend competing in the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative\u2019s fourth annual Hackathon, taking on real-world agricultural technology challenges related to sensors, artificial intelligence and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Held Oct. 18-20 at the Plant Sciences Building, the Hackathon was designed to help students develop critical interdisciplinary skills like computer coding, design and project management while gaining exposure to industry experts, building professional networks and enhancing their resumes with practical experience. Creativity, teamwork and innovation are emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three Tracks, Three Missions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Competitors chose from three tracks, based on their skill level and interests. The tracks focused on three challenges aimed at using technology to help future-proof the food supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In one advanced track, participants created sensors that gathered data on soil pH, moisture content and electrical conductivity to create an associated dashboard that would enable farmers to determine crop biomass and height based on those factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another advanced track focused on creating synthetic images to train a model capable of identifying plant species and mapping their performance \u2014 information that could ultimately be used to help growers know exactly where and how much to fertilize different parts of a field planted with multiple species of cover crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those in the beginners track developed algorithms to help a web app distinguish between wheat and Italian ryegrass, a key step for advancing precision weed control with sprayers and robots. Participants used no-code environments that now make sophisticated AI available to disciplines outside of computer science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participants including Bhavya Jain, a Ph.D. student in electrical engineering, said the fast-paced event gave them a chance to gain experience working with people from different specialties on a common challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Varied Expertise, But One Goal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Jain was part of the Crop Yields Matter team, which won first place in the advanced Smart Sensors in Agriculture track. Others on his team came from different fields \u2014 operations research, computer science and horticultural science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow industries require students prepared with knowledge from different backgrounds working together,\u201d Jain said. \u201cSo these skills we used in this competition are very helpful. Whenever I do a job search or even start my own company in the agricultural technology space, I think the skills will greatly benefit me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chris Reberg-Horton, one of the organizers for the Hackathon, agreed that interdisciplinary interaction is important in today\u2019s workforce. He also hopes that the event instilled in biologists an appreciation for what artificial intelligence can bring to agriculture and exposed engineers to opportunities in agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want our biologists to understand more about what’s coming \u2014 the revolution of our time \u2014 which is artificial intelligence, but we also want to bring all these engineers that are being trained right next door \u2026 into agriculture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey may often think about applying the knowledge and training they\u2019re getting to medicine or manufacturing or some other field, and agriculture isn’t their first thought, but this is one way to introduce them to the idea that we’re going to be using the same technology in agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Track winners<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
After completing their projects on Sunday morning, the students presented their results before judges from industry and academia. Here are the winners for each track and their departments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Crops versus Weeds <\/strong>First Place:<\/strong><\/em> Balihar Kaur, crop science, and Henry Sederoff, environmental science<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second Place:<\/strong><\/em> Shreya Dey, biological sciences; Vyomi Shah, computer science; and Jonah Monk, horticultural science<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smart Sensors in Agriculture <\/strong>First Place:<\/strong><\/em> Sai Srikar Puppala, operations research; Steve Amerige, horticultural science; Bhavya Jain, electrical engineering; and Aditya Chitlangia, computer science<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second Place:<\/strong><\/em> Jin Xu, chemical and biomolecular engineering; Brett Timmons, horticultural science; Soundharya Khanapur, computer science; and Nitin Dhevar, computer science<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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