remote sensing

“Precision nitrogen management for improving yield and protein content in wheat” with Dr. Olga Walsh.

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for crops, which is required in large amounts for crop production and demands precise nutrient management methods due to its highly mobile property in plants and soils and high chances of leaching. Precise nutrient management is also important for improving the yield and quality of grains, minimizing the input, and maximizing the efficiency. Assessing the real-time plant growth, biomass production, and nutrient depletion in the soil using different precision agriculture techniques like drones, remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and other camera-based devices helps optimize nutrient management. In this episode, Dr. Olga Walsh shares her research on precision nitrogen management for yield and protein content estimation on spring wheat and sugar beet by using different hand-held sensors, drones, and remote sensing approaches.

Tune in to learn more about

·         What values are best to look for when doing remote sensing in wheat

·         How drones, remote sensing, and camera applications are helping predict biomass and nutrient requirements

·         What yield and protein content was estimated from the sensors tested

·         How hand-held and UAV sensors compare

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode’s paper is available here:  https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20309

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at podcast@sciencesocieties.org or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don’t forget to subscribe. If you’d like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Olga Walsh, you can find her here:
oswalsh@vt.edu
https://spes.vt.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/walsh_olga.html

If you would like to reach out to Ayush Kachrulal Sharma, you can find him here:
ayushsharma@ufl.edu
https://twitter.com/Ayushsharma9770 

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b0C58D320-47CB-EE11-9079-000D3A355FD1%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/-6STl4uhGJ_6rdM6-VHBcgpSzZoxD_pvMZqu-k9mwXKl0cSZPvAyPvz5J4XcoYMjUF3NlRgTD1hYymCEdyPW0CwO2iM?loadFrom=SharedLink 

Extension outreach bulletins:

Estimation of Wheat Yield and Grain Protein with Handheld and UAV-Mounted Sensors. UI Extension Bulletin 1033: https://www.uidaho.edu/extension/publications/publication-detail?id=bul1033

Nitrogen Management in Field Crops with Reference Strips and Crop Sensors. UI Extension Bulletin 896: https://www.uidaho.edu/extension/publications/publication-detail?id=bul0896

Southern Idaho Soft White Spring Wheat Quick Facts. UI Extension Bulletin 979: https://www.uidaho.edu/extension/publications/publication-detail?id=bul0979

Southern Idaho Hard Spring Wheat Quick Facts. UI Extension Bulletin 986: https://www.uidaho.edu/-/media/UIdaho-Responsive/Files/Extension/topic/cereals/scse/publications/SI-Wheat-Quick-Facts-HSW.pdf

Optimum Nitrogen Rates for Wheat Depend on the Environment and Field-Specific Conditions. UI CIS 1028: https://www.uidaho.edu/extension/publications/publication-detail?id=bul1028

School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia: https://spes.vt.edu/

Thank you to Om Prakash Ghimire for help in assembling show notes and other assets.

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

Chris Tolles is the CEO and Co-founder of Yard Stick PBC, which stands for Public Benefits Corporation. Yard Stick is aiming to be the measurement backbone for soil carbon. Their handheld hardware enables onsite measurement of soil carbon in agricultural fields, and their software package provides data and analytics that help stakeholders in a soil carbon project to measure and track progress. As Chris tells it, the Yard Stick co-founders got to know one another in the MCJ member community during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020. MCJ is a proud multi-time investor in Yard Stick. Even so, we still learned a ton from Chris during this conversation. 

Chris highlighted that while MRV technologies are often associated with carbon credit sales, the voluntary carbon market is just one avenue for soil carbon project development. Another that is seeing strong early traction is insetting, where food and agriculture companies are beginning to measure an attempt to reduce the carbon intensity of their own agricultural supply chains. They aren't selling credits; rather, they're starting to make progress on directly reducing the emissions of how their food is grown, which is great news. Chris charts his background and experience and then explains what soil carbon is and why it matters, helping to put the efforts that Yard Stick is making into the context of the broader global carbon cycle. 

Episode recorded on Oct 13, 2023 (Published on Dec 7, 2023)

In this episode, we cover: 

• [02:38]: Chris's background and pivoting from consumer products to climate
• [08:43]: Origins of Yard Stick in the MCJ Community
• [11:59]: How Chris and co-founders came to focus on soil organic carbon
• [14:43]: Cristine Morgan's research background as Yard Stick CSO
• [18:50]: Overview of soil organic carbon and key drivers of soil carbon stock losses
• [27:46]: Issues with how claims have been measured historically
• [33:39]: Why remote sensing technology is insufficient
• [35:29]: Yard Stick's technology and approach
• [42:50]: The company's business model
• [46:00]: Addressing criticism of soil carbon and other nature-based solutions
• [51:49]: Soil carbon support in Inflation Reduction Act and future policy
• [56:00]: Yard Stick's $18 million grant from the USDA
• [58:19]: Their recent $12M Series A round led by Toyota Ventures
• [01:00:00]: Reckoning with racial injustice and land theft in agriculture
• [01:02:04]: Encouraging climate companies to address complex social issues

Resources mentioned:

• Demo Carbon Stock Report
• “Yard Stick lands 10.6M Series A to measure soil carbon” (TechCrunch)

Get connected with MCJ: 

• Jason Jacobs X / LinkedIn
• Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
• MCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube

*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at content@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Welcome to "The Healthy Healer" podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Fred Moss. Through sustained conversations, we delve deep into the journeys of healers who've found their purpose after personal transformation. Many enter the healing profession with aspirations only to grapple with reality—endless training, unexpected responsibilities, and even disillusionment. But there are those who rise above, harnessing personal healing and rediscovering their passion. Our podcast features these inspiring souls who've returned to the healing profession, stronger and more aligned than ever. Join us for riveting conversations that shed light on the true essence of healing and the incredible individuals who've redefined their paths.

Here are some key takeaways from Dr. Moss's short recap after the episode with Elizabeth Kipp:

- Trauma-based pain therapy can be much more effective than just medications for chronic pain. 

- Most conventional doctors/therapists don't have great access to managing chronic pain beyond medications.

- Elizabeth helps people reclaim their power and stop taking harmful pain drugs through modalities like trauma-informed yoga and ancestral clearing.

- She views pain as any physical, emotional, or spiritual pain felt for over 3 months, and sees it can be healed through multiple approaches. 

- Elizabeth has a diverse background in plant sciences, ecology, etc that informs her detailed, multifaceted approach to healing. 

- She helps people expand beyond limiting ego-thinking into awareness-based thinking. 

- Chronic pain sufferers can find freedom through Elizabeth's alternative healing methodologies.

- The episode provides detailed information on understanding and healing pain without only using conventional medicine.

- Dr. Moss found it insightful to learn Elizabeth's approaches to guiding people out of suffering.

Get ready to take off into the world of remote sensing as we’re joined by Emiliano Cimoli, a researcher at the Australian Centre of Excellence in Antarctic Science (ACEAS). Emiliano tells us about his work employing cutting-edge remote sensing techniques with unmanned aerial vehicles (drones!) to unlock the secrets of our planet's marine and terrestrial landscapes. 

Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod

Host: Olly Dove (@littledove440)
Co-Host: Hannah Moore (@HannahCMoore @hannahclaremoore)
Production: Hannah Moore (@HannahCMoore @hannahclaremoore)  
Media & Promotion: Emma Hamasaki (@ehamasaki) 

Phytoplankton are important for the climate and for ocean life. They are fascinating microscopic organisms, invisible to the naked eye, but visible from Space. A reduction in the quantities of phytoplankton would lead to a reduction in the ocean’s resources and its capacity to capture carbon dioxide, one of the causes of the greenhouse effect.

On the 24th of February, 2009, David Crisp was in the control center at Vandenberg Air Force base counting down the seconds for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory to launch.

It was a project he had led for a decade - and it was the first NASA mission that would measure atmospheric carbon dioxide from space.

Hundreds of millions of dollars and years of work had gone into that moment, but David and his team had yet to face their greatest challenge...

This week, Climate Now is releasing a two-part series on NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) missions, including the saga of its multi-decadal journey to completion and the impact it could have on the fight to end climate change.

David Crisp, Senior Research Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shares his experience as the Principal Investigator for the OCO missions with Climate Now in this episode.

Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Contact us at contact@climatenow.com

Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Welcome to this experiment!

If you want to follow this journey, I'm @MaxLenormand on Twitter!