1. Digital Agriculture Opportunities in Engineering
Abe Stroock – Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Workshop - Oct. 9, 2018

2. Why? - the biology is inspiring
(Stroock et al., ARFM, 2014)

3. Why? - the biology is complex
Plant +
Microbes +
Pests +
Ecosystem +
Environment +
Management +
Consumer

4. Why? – global-scale sustainability challenges
Emissions from Ag projected to increase by 80% by 2050
(Fengqi You, Johannes Lehmann, Jeff Tester,…)

5. Why? – the field is wide open
(Stroock et al., ARFM, 2014)
(Gray’s Anatomy, 1858)

6. Opportunity – a system of systems
Nanotechnology
Materials Science
Biological Engineering
Biotechnology
Process Engineering
Device Engineering
Systems Engineering
Applied Microbiology
Operations Research
Data Analytics
Environmental Engineering
...
biogeochem
plant physiology
hydrology
irrigation
cropping strategy
fertilizer
water
non-point source pollution
fuel
Haber-Bosch N
pumping
markets
government
knowledge-networks
data collection
model prediction
forecasting
measurement
management
socioeconomics
policy
landscape
energy balance
mass balances
weather
biodiversity
environment
resources
atmospheric GHG
ocean nutrient-balance
global energy markets
global food markets
modeling
global climate
global health
Global
Regional
Farm

7. Example – finding the “water gene”
Traits:
water stress dynamics
photosynthetic efficiency
gene expression profiles
infection response …
Sensing nanoparticle: “aquaDust”
wet
dry
100 mm
Piyush Jain (MAE)
(Stroock, Gore, Riha, Melkonian)

8. Example – precision management of cow & herd
(Giordano, Erickson, and Weinberger)

9. Example – taming dairy’s GHG emissions
(Fengqi You, Johannes Lehmann, Jeff Tester,…)

10. What if – a system of systems
we could perform metagenomic analysis in intact soil?
we could measure and model all steps in development?
we could optimize and automate all inputs on a farm?
we could engineer robust agricultural ecologies?
we could show consumers the full life cycle of their foods? …

11. We can – we’re neighbors