CropDoc team vying for competition crown

Oct 02, 2018

The team from Brown University is a finalist in the 2018 Collegiate Inventors Competition

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A small team from Brown University in Providence, R.I., hopes to win an inventor’s competition with their crop-related technology.

Jack Roswell, co-founder of Cloud Agronomics, which helps create customizable field maps for farmers, hopes CropDoc will earn his team first prize at the 2018 Collegiate Inventors Competition in November in the undergraduate division. The team includes three other students, as well as an advisor.

CropDoc uses state-of-the-art technology to help farmers identify potential crop issues before they arise and project how severe a pest or disease outbreak could be.

Jack Roswell

“We’re trying to solve the problem of disease identification on farms,” he told Farms.com. “We’re using spectroscopy (the study of the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation) methods from aircrafts flying at about 6,000 feet with a resolution of about one meter on the ground.

“With that resolution, we can identify specific diseases that are infecting a row crop or an orchard. We can identify diseases like citrus greening before any visible symptoms manifest. So, diseases without any cure can be identified and surgically removed before they spread.”

The CropDoc team estimates that pests and crop diseases kill about 20 percent of all crops before harvest.

That figure could decrease if producers can get ahead of crop protection decisions, Roswell said.

“Right now, farmers send crop scouts out which are around 60 percent accurate,” he said. “Then they collect samples and send them to a lab for processing. With this current method, once crop diseases are identified, it’s almost already too late to act.”

Four other teams from U.S. universities will compete against CropDoc in November.

The other projects are a tool for administering epidurals, a battery-free inventory tag, a method of allowing brain surgeons to access the brain through small entries, and a masonry tool.

Gray leaf spot on corn/University of Nebraska photo

Video: Will the 2025 USDA December Crop Report Be a Market Mover/Surprise?

Historically, the USDA December crop report is a non-event or another dud report as the USDA reserves any final supply changes to the final report in January of the following year in this case 2026. But after the longest U.S. government shutdown in history at 43 days and no October crop report will they provide more data/surprise and make an exception?
Our China U.S. soybean purchase tracker is now at 26.6% or a total of 3.2 mmt but for traders it’s taking too long to unfold.
The final Stats Canada production report was bearish canola and wheat projection a record crop in both (it adds to the global glut of supplies) and bullish local corn and soybean prices in Ontario/Quebec thanks to a drought. It will not help the fund flow short-term, the USDA may need to offset it?
A U.S. Fed interest rate cut of another 25-basis point next Wednesday (probability 87.1%) could help fund flow and sentiment in stock and ag commodities into year end.
More inflows into Bitcoin this past week saw prices rebound back above 90,000 with support at 82,000 and resistance at 96,000.
A V-shaped bottom in cattle suggest the lows are in after Mexico reported another new world screwworm case. Lower weights, seasonal demand and higher U.S. beef select/choice values with a continued closure of the Mexican border to cattle will result in a resumption of higher cattle futures into yearend.
Australia is expected to produce its 3rd largest wheat crop ever at 36 mmt adding to the global glut of supplies.
Reports of ASF in hogs in Spain the largest pork exporter in Europe could see the U.S. win more pork export business long-term.
If the rains verify into next week of 3-5 inches for Brazil it would go a long way to fixing the dry regions from the last 2-months, but the European weather model has been wrong for the past 2-months!
Natural gas futures are surging to the 3rd price count as frigid hold temps set in.
CDN $ is also surging to end the week on a very resilient economy and better employment numbers suggesting no interest rate cuts next week.
Finally, the CFTC report showed funds were net buyers of soybeans but sellers of corn, canola and wheat. In real time the funds have gone back to selling as they take some profits.