By 2050, the world will encounter serious food shortages if global temperatures continue to increase. Consequently, global warming and population growth would have a drastic impact on food prices and production. In order to sustainably feed this growing population, the agricultural production needs to be optimized by developing novel technologies to maximize yield while minimizing input and environmental impact. Digital agriculture, use of robot labor, automation, and access to frequent, high-resolution, and precise data can effectively assist us to secure an environmentally-friendly food production. Our research approach in the Digital Agriculture Lab is to solve problems inspired by applications that will make significant advancements in engineering systems for agriculture.

RTM Simulator

 

 

 

Grants

  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, NIFA  (2 awards)
  • NSF – Artificial Intelligence Institute for Food Systems  (1 award)
  • California Department of Food and Agriculture   (5 awards)
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, AFRI  (1 award)
  • California Table Grape Commission   (3 awards)
  • Almond Board of California   (5 awards)
  • California Pistachio Research Board   (2 awards)
  • California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR)  (1 award)
  • CITRIS Core Seed Funding  (1 award)
  • Western Center for Agricultural Health and Safety   (2 awards)

Research Updates

Sun-View Geometery

Sun-View Geometry

  • by Alireza Pourreza
  • January 19, 2023

There has been a significant expansion of UAS-based remote sensing in various industries, including agriculture and environmental research. However, the outcomes of remote sensing models are not generalizable because the ability to translate them to another time and space has been constrained by the lack of an efficient and trustworthy quantitative approach independent of the experiment circumstance. The sun-camera geometry is one of the most significant error factors degrading the UAS-based remote sensing data.

Spray Backstop - developed at UC Davis digital Ag lab - Alireza Pourreza

Spray Backstop

  • by Alireza Pourreza
  • November 13, 2020
Spray Backstop is a low maintenance attachment system for air-assist sprayers that blocks the spray droplets escaping the canopy from tree's top or sides. 
Virtual Orchard Almond NIR Near Infrared Alireza Pourreza

Virtual Orchard

  • by Alireza Pourreza
  • January 23, 2018
Virtual Orchard (VO) is a technology to describe canopy geometry for individual trees in an orchard using 3D reconstruction of tree canopies.