The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is partnering with the University of North Dakota, Iowa State University and Kansas State University on a digital agriculture project funded by a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

The grant aims to foster collaboration among Midwestern agricultural and big data constituencies. The Midwest Big Data Hub Digital Agriculture Spoke will help build partnerships to address emerging issues, such as precision agriculture, ecosystem management and services, socio-economic impacts, and specific data-related issues.

FOCUS ON DIGITAL AG: UNL is partnering with the University of North Dakota, Iowa State University and Kansas State University on a digital agriculture project funded by a $1 million National Science Foundation grant.

"This project is important because working with big data can be very costly, so it's critical to recognize shared challenges on a national level so we can share insights and resources," says Jennifer L. Clarke, director of the Quantitative Life Sciences Initiative and associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology and Department of Statistics. "The collaborations that result from this project will enable us to leverage big data to solve critical challenges related to sustainable agriculture and food security."

Clarke will lead UNL efforts associated with the project, which focuses initially on two knowledge domains important to agriculture: unmanned aircraft systems and plant sciences. Automating big data life cycles in unmanned aircraft systems in agriculture, plant sciences, phenomics and genomics is a key objective for the team. Information sharing, education and training at all levels will also be a priority.

HUB AND SPOKE: The Midwest Big Data Hub Digital Agriculture Spoke will help collaborators across institutions build partnerships to address emerging issues, such as precision agriculture, ecosystem management and services, socio-economic impacts, and specific data-related issues.

NSF awarded a total of $10 million to 10 "Big Data Spokes" to initiate research on specific topics identified by the Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs. Project topics range from precision agriculture to smart cities to personalized education. The data spokes reflect the unique priorities and capabilities of the four hubs, which represent consortia from all sections of the country.

"The BD Spokes advance the goals and regional priorities of each BD Hub, fusing the strengths of a range of institutions and investigators and applying them to problems that affect the communities and populations within their regions," says Jim Kurose, assistant director of NSF's Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate. "We are pleased to be making this substantial investment today to accelerate the nation's big data R&D innovation ecosystem."

The title of the University of North Dakota-led project is, "Digital Agriculture — Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Plant Sciences and Education."

For more information, visit Midwest Big Data Hub.

Source: IANR News