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Students Swap Skills to Seek Solutions at Digital Ag Hackathon

Students in fields ranging from computer science and engineering to business, agriculture and animal science convened at the second Digital Agriculture Hackathon, Feb. 28-March 1, with a shared purpose: to combine their disparate skills to brainstorm ways to make the world a better place.

“I’m cooperating with so many other majors that I have never come into touch with – it’s just so brand-new and refreshing,” said Jel Zhao ’20, an animal science major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), one of nearly 150 hackathon participants. “They know stuff that I don’t know, and I know stuff that they don’t, but we can come together into one room to figure out solutions to make animals’ lives better.”

Zhao’s team – which also comprised students studying computer science, information science, and international agriculture and rural development – created a machine-learning model to detect anomalies in cow vocalizations to try to pinpoint health concerns. The 25 student teams developed their ideas with input from mentors from Cornell, visiting universities and companies, including event sponsors Cargill and Microsoft.

“Modernization has created tremendous increases in food productivity, but technology has also displaced millions of people from agriculture and contributed to public health problems and ecological degradation,” said Steven Wolf, associate professor of natural resources and faculty co-lead for the event. “We need to engage creatively and critically with technology as applied to agriculture and food, and this approach was highly evident in the ideas and sensibilities the students brought to the hackathon.”<

Few products and services affect as many people as food and agriculture, and insufficient access to food, inefficient supply chains and reliance on petrochemicals are major global challenges. Digital agriculture, which applies the tools of technology to agricultural systems, can help improve efficiency, reduce hunger and protect the planet.

“These are big, broad challenges, and student groups came together to identify problems and create solutions, all within 36 hours,”said faculty co-lead Hakim Weatherspoon, associate professor of computer science.

“To me, the key is to use digital agriculture to advance studies in both directions – not just applying a machine-learning model to make agriculture more efficient, but to use agriculture and the life sciences to advance computer science.”

In addition to getting advice from mentors, participants attended workshops on topics including design thinking, machine learning and using Microsoft’s Farmbeats lab kit, which can track sensor readings to provide growers with data. On the hackathon’s third day, the teams presented four-minute demos to the judges, followed by four-minute Q&As.

Cash prizes were awarded to winning projects in five categories: grand prize ($2,000); and novelty, grand societal challenge, market ready and data/analysis ($1,500 each).

“Last-mile delivery of data-driven market optimization of fresh produce sales for ultra-rural farmers,” a project developed by three engineering master’s students and a doctoral student in nutrition, won the grand prize of $2,000.

This year, students from three of the world’s top agricultural universities – Wageningen University, the Netherlands; the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil; and the University of California, Davis – traveled to Cornell to participate, as did hackers from Cooper Union, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Ithaca College and New York University.

“It’s been really nice to meet people doing different types of agriculture,” said Ziqiu Kang, a master’s student in biological engineering from Wageningen University, whose team built an app that would use photos and machine learning to analyze crop planting conditions, with the goal of helping farmers reduce food waste caused by plants rotting in the fields. “The level of research here is very high, and it’s been really broadening.”

Around half of Cornell’s participants were undergraduates and half were graduate students, representing nearly 50 fields of study across 11 schools. For agriculture or animal science students, the hackathon provided an opportunity to explore how digital tools of technology could aid their fields; for computer scientists and engineers, it was a chance to apply their skills to pressing, real-world problems.

“I’ve done a lot of work with machine learning, but I’m always on the lookout for applications for machine learning that have the potential to make big global impact,” said Joshua Fan, a doctoral student in computer science and a teammate of Kang’s. “And I think agriculture seems to be one of those high-impact areas, because millions of people depend on it for their livelihoods and it affects food security. So I was just curious to see what this was all about.”

The hackathon, held at the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), was hosted by the Cornell Initiative for Digital Agriculture, which is supported by the provost’s Radical Collaboration initiative; Cornell Engineering; CVM; Computing and Information Science; and CALS. It was organized by Entrepreneurship at Cornell. A full list of hosts and sponsors can be found here.

The winners:

Source:
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/03/students-swap-skills-seek-solutions-digital-ag-hackathon

For More Information:
https://https://digitalag2020.splashthat.com/

AgriFood

General Information A5: Knowledge, Training, and Education for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Many of today’s global challenges have a high priority on international agendas. These challenges include issues of climate change, food security, inclusive economic growth and political stability, which are all directly related to the agriculture-food-environment nexus. Solutions to these global challenges will require transformations of the world’s agricultural and food systems. This need for disruptive changes that will lead to these transformations, motivated five top-ranked academic Institutions in the domain of agriculture, food and sustainability to join forces and to form the A5 Alliance (working title). The A5 founding members - China Agricultural University, Cornell University, University of California Davis, University of Sao Paulo, and Wageningen University & Research - are recognized globally for their scientific knowledge, research expertise, teaching and training in sustainable agriculture and food systems. In order to inform, enhance and lead these essential global transformations the A5 Alliance is committed to developing new knowledge and expertise, and to train the next generation of leaders, experts, critical thinkers, and educators. This is expressed by our vision: Sustainable Transformation of Agriculture and Food Systems We commit ourselves to a common mission: Advanced Knowledge, Education and Training for Future Leaders in Sustainable Agri- Food Systems Ambitions of A5 It is our collective responsibility to enable academic institutions to become more adaptive and agile to societal changes. Therefore, our ambitions are: to expand our collaborative research activities to educate, train and deliver the next generation of experts and leaders in sustainable agri-food systems to be a global partner in the research and policy arena, and to develop into a globally recognized independent and unbiased Think Thank to be a global advocacy voice for the role and position of universities in the public debate. Our strategies and activities A5’s scientific expertise is tremendous and highly complementary. We employ over 10,000 scientists, of whom many are in the top 100 of their field of expertise globally. Many of our scientists are involved in teaching at all academic levels. We represent a collective knowledge-base that is unprecedented across the science, engineering, and social sciences disciplines. Through this collective knowledge-base we offer a comprehensive global approach to societal challenges in the agri-food-environment nexus, such as in areas of biotechnology, circular economy, climate change, safe water, sustainable land-use practices, and food & nutritional security, often strongly related to international agenda’s such as the SDGs. Examples of transformational topics that A5 intends to work on include the management, synthesis and analysis of huge data streams (big data) in the agriculture and food, developing and introducing automation and robotics in agriculture, sustainable intensification of agro-food production, reducing food waste and climate smart agriculture. We invite our partner stakeholders to collaborate with us in creating the transformative changes that are needed to adapt to the changing needs in the agriculture and food domain. Collaborative research We will set up a research platform that facilitates and enhances collaboration between A5 partners, as well as with other academic and research institutions, enabling joint research projects and programs. Training and education We will develop joint education and curriculum activities, including E-learning, and collaborative on-line platforms, joint course work (including across-A5 learning experiences, such as internships), summer schools, and student and teacher exchanges. In addition, we will enhance the human and institutional capacity of higher education, especially in developing countries. Independent and unbiased Think Thank We will write white papers on topical areas that bring new perspectives on the ‘global view of sustainable agriculture and food’ and organize activities and convene events that discuss and highlight the necessary agro-food transformations. Examples are conferences or “executive” workshops for policy-makers, research institutions, industries, NGOs and academia, with a focus on awareness, engagement, and knowledge sharing and co-creation. Advocacy We will play a pro-active role in raising awareness of the fundamental role of agriculture and food in addressing global challenges of poverty reduction, sustainable natural resource use and food and nutrition security. A5 will strive for university research to be a trusted resource for the general public. General Information A5: Knowledge, Training, and Education for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Many of today’s global challenges have a high priority on international agendas. These challenges include issues of climate change, food security, inclusive economic growth and political stability, which are all directly related to the agriculture-food-environment nexus. Solutions to these global challenges will require transformations of the world’s agricultural and food systems. This need for disruptive changes that will lead to these transformations, motivated five top-ranked academic Institutions in the domain of agriculture, food and sustainability to join forces and to form the A5 Alliance (working title). The A5 founding members - China Agricultural University, Cornell University, University of California Davis, University of Sao Paulo, and Wageningen University & Research - are recognized globally for their scientific knowledge, research expertise, teaching and training in sustainable agriculture and food systems. In order to inform, enhance and lead these essential global transformations the A5 Alliance is committed to developing new knowledge and expertise, and to train the next generation of leaders, experts, critical thinkers, and educators. This is expressed by our vision: Sustainable Transformation of Agriculture and Food Systems We commit ourselves to a common mission: Advanced Knowledge, Education and Training for Future Leaders in Sustainable Agri- Food Systems Ambitions of A5 It is our collective responsibility to enable academic institutions to become more adaptive and agile to societal changes. Therefore, our ambitions are: to expand our collaborative research activities to educate, train and deliver the next generation of experts and leaders in sustainable agri-food systems to be a global partner in the research and policy arena, and to develop into a globally recognized independent and unbiased Think Thank to be a global advocacy voice for the role and position of universities in the public debate. Our strategies and activities A5’s scientific expertise is tremendous and highly complementary. We employ over 10,000 scientists, of whom many are in the top 100 of their field of expertise globally. Many of our scientists are involved in teaching at all academic levels. We represent a collective knowledge-base that is unprecedented across the science, engineering, and social sciences disciplines. Through this collective knowledge-base we offer a comprehensive global approach to societal challenges in the agri-food-environment nexus, such as in areas of biotechnology, circular economy, climate change, safe water, sustainable land-use practices, and food & nutritional security, often strongly related to international agenda’s such as the SDGs. Examples of transformational topics that A5 intends to work on include the management, synthesis and analysis of huge data streams (big data) in the agriculture and food, developing and introducing automation and robotics in agriculture, sustainable intensification of agro-food production, reducing food waste and climate smart agriculture. We invite our partner stakeholders to collaborate with us in creating the transformative changes that are needed to adapt to the changing needs in the agriculture and food domain. Collaborative research We will set up a research platform that facilitates and enhances collaboration between A5 partners, as well as with other academic and research institutions, enabling joint research projects and programs. Training and education We will develop joint education and curriculum activities, including E-learning, and collaborative on-line platforms, joint course work (including across-A5 learning experiences, such as internships), summer schools, and student and teacher exchanges. In addition, we will enhance the human and institutional capacity of higher education, especially in developing countries. Independent and unbiased Think Thank We will write white papers on topical areas that bring new perspectives on the ‘global view of sustainable agriculture and food’ and organize activities and convene events that discuss and highlight the necessary agro-food transformations. Examples are conferences or “executive” workshops for policy-makers, research institutions, industries, NGOs and academia, with a focus on awareness, engagement, and knowledge sharing and co-creation. Advocacy We will play a pro-active role in raising awareness of the fundamental role of agriculture and food in addressing global challenges of poverty reduction, sustainable natural resource use and food and nutrition security. A5 will strive for university research to be a trusted resource for the general public.

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AgriFood

1 year ago

Students Swap Skills to Seek Solutions at Digital Ag Hackathon

Students Swap Skills to Seek Solutions at Digital Ag Hackathon

The winners:

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