By Audra Koscik
Cranberries are integral to Wisconsin agriculture. The U.S. is the world’s largest cranberry producer, and Wisconsin accounts for over half of U.S. cranberry production.
Given this, many scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison specialize in cranberries and carry out extensive research and outreach programs for cranberry growers. Dharani Suresh Babu, a graduate student co-advised by Jyostna Mura and Amaya Atucha, has joined this area of work.
Suresh Babu is a doctoral candidate majoring in horticulture with a minor in computer science. As such, she has a strong background in weaving together technology and agriculture. For her doctoral work, she was interested in creating technologies that would support cranberry growers.
To begin her research, cranberry growers were interviewed to identify their most significant needs. “They gave us a list, and we selected the top three based on the most pressing challenges shared by multiple growers – issues that, if addressed, could significantly improve cranberry production,” she says.
Not only did she interact with growers, but she also engaged with researchers and Extension workers. Through these conversations, she found that, while research had been conducted on older cultivars, there was little information available on the growth stages of many newer cultivars especially across the full growing season. Based on these insights, tracking the intricate growth stages of newer cultivars became a key focus of the research.
To do so, she needed a way to accurately monitor the cranberry crops. Cranberry is a very small crop, and the plant only grows a few millimeters in the first developmental stages. Additionally, as the plant keeps growing, the stages also become a little bigger. Given this, her team needed a camera that could focus on the minuscule changes and adapt its focus as the plant developed.
The camera had a few other hefty requirements. “We wanted the camera also to record the environmental variables like temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and things like that,” says Suresh Babu. Additionally, the camera needed to withstand extreme weather conditions from around April to October.
Her team also wanted the camera to be environmentally friendly. “We don’t want to use lead batteries or anything,” she says. They wanted the entire system to be solar powered.
Source : wisc.edu