Digital Agriculture

A NASA grant was awarded to Katie Gold, assistant professor of plant pathology and plant microbe-biology, to use her expertise in remote sensing, plant pathology and genomics to better understand how plant pathogens that travel the globe with dust particles might put crops at risk, especially in places where people struggle to eat.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded a $676,000 grant to a pair of Cornell researchers aiming to use high resolution sensors to help vineyard growers identify nutrient deficiencies.

The researchers – Terry Bates, senior research associate at the Cornell Lake Erie Research and Extension Labaoratory, and Justine Vanden Heuvel, professor of horticulture, will develop affordable, efficient and accessible technologies to support the health of vineyards across New York state and beyond.

Evidence has been found that grape powdery mildew is developing resistance to some fungicides on the East coast. Using hyperspectral sensors, Katie Gold, assistant professor of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology will detect fungicide resistance right from the vineyard while keeping grapes on the vine. The hyperspectral sensors Gold will use measure light reflectance in the visible to shortwave infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum – a range of light seven times larger than the human eye can see.

​​​​​​Justin Vandenheuvel, professor of viticulture and Yu Jiang, assistant research professor of systems engineering and data analytics, are working to develop a thermal and multispectral imaging system for growers that they can attach to an all-terrain vehicle, drive through their vineyard, and have a map produced of live and dead buds that then can be used to guide their pruning practices.

Senior research associate David Gadoury is using ultraviolet light robots to kill grape powdery mildew as part of a research trial at Cornell AgriTech and at Anthony Road Winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. Gadoury’s research has proven ultraviolet light to be an effective means for controlling this form of grape disease. The robotic technology will become commercially available to wineries soon.