Manuel Marcaida III

Manuel is a data analyst with more than 10 years of experience in agricultural research. He worked as a crop modeler at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, where he simulated rice production scenarios involving genotype, management, environment and climate interactions using the ORYZA Rice Model. 

He moved to the US to pursue a master's degree in Environmental and Forest Science at the University of Washington, where he examined the spatio-temporal changes in rice production around Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia using crop modeling and remote sensing. The study was part of the Sustainable Mekong Livelihoods Project funded by the Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems program of the National Science Foundation.

As the crop and soil data specialist with the Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program, Manuel leads a team of staff and students processing yield-monitor data shared by farmers into single, multi-year, and yield-stability zone maps. Additionally, he is involved in precision agriculture research, conducting geospatial analyses of on-farm testing approaches using various data layers, including historical yield, soil and landform data.