Abstract #500

# 500
Field remote sensing and its relationship to forage and crop yield and quality.
J. K. Ward*1, 1North Carolina State University Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Raleigh, NC.

Non-contact sensing is becoming more common in forage applications. Portable near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been used to estimate forage quality factors and to make forage management decisions. Current solutions focus on harvested material often removed from its field context or on discrete samples. The purpose of this analysis is to leverage off-the-shelf remote sensing platforms on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to detect field scale variation in forage production and quality. Remotely sensed values were compared with traditional lab analyses, manual production estimates, and animal performance. Final analyses are ongoing. Long-term goals of this project are to create field scale in situ forage crop quality estimates to predict bale-scale forage quality

Key Words: non-contact sensing, forage applications, near-infrared spectroscopy

Speaker Bio
Jason and his Advanced Ag Lab at NC State University conducts interdisciplinary research and extension programs focused on agricultural sensing technologies, digital farming methods, and data analytics.  The goal is to leverage agricultural data sources, management, and analysis to drive real-world actionable insights across commodities and production systems.  Jason has worked in precision ag for industry, government, and academia for over 10 years.