Remote Sensing Conference
On Nov. 14, 2017, a group of 64 growers, agronomists, researchers, technology experts, and other stakeholders met to discuss opportunities and challenges in remote sensing for potato production and breeding. Financial support for the conference was provided by a planning grant (2017-51181-26825) from the USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative.
Conference attendees heard presentations covering a range of topics:
- Overview of Sensing Technologies for Improving Potato Production, Sindhuja Sankaran (Washington State University)
- Observing Crop Function with Hyperspectral Reflectance, Paul Bethke and Phil Townsend (University of Wisconsin)
- Remote Sensing as a Tool to Manage Nitrogen for Irrigated Potato Production, David Mulla and Carl Rosen (University of Minnesota)
- Use of Remote Sensing in Potato Disease Management, Amanda Gevens (University of Wisconsin)
- Remote Scouting of Insect Damage in Potatoes, Ian MacRae (University of Minnesota)
- Sensors and Image Processing, Craig Poling (Sentek Systems)
- Decision Support Systems, Keith Tinsey (CropTrak)
- A Grower’s Perspective, Mike Larsen (Mart Produce & Marketing)
- Return on Investment, Paul Mitchell (University of Wisconsin)
- High-throughput Phenotyping Tools for Germplasm Screening in Potato, Vidyasagar Sathuvalli (Oregon State University)
- Optimizing Field Sampling, Jeremy Buchman (Black Gold Farms)
There was also a short poster session in the afternoon:
- Sulfur deficiency detection and yield prediction using optical sensors, Sukhwinder Bali (University of Maine)
- Improving nutrient management for potato production in Central Minnesota, Brian Bohman (University of Minnesota)
- Predicting Zebra chip symptom severity in potato slices using image analysis, Xi Liang (University of Idaho)
- Using spectral signatures to quantify Zebra chip disease severity, Arash Rashed (University of Idaho)
- Detection of beetle damage using a small unmanned system, Silvia Rondon (Oregon State University)
- Developing the capacity of reflectance spectroscopy for early detection of late blight in potato, Kaitlin Morey Gold (University of Wisconsin)