Picture a Northern California vineyard, rows of grapevines bathed in morning fog, workers hand-thinning vines, exposing them to sunlight, and the slow rhythm of the seasons guiding each harvest.
Picture a Northern California vineyard, rows of grapevines bathed in morning fog, workers hand-thinning vines, exposing them to sunlight, and the slow rhythm of the seasons guiding each harvest. But unseen in that pastoral setting are the data pouring constantly from the vines, the earth and even the air. And those streams of information may become as essential to agriculture as irrigation and sunshine. Quietly powering the data analysis that makes all of this possible — is the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego’s School of Computing, Information and Data Science.
Across California, researchers, farmers, technologists and universities are launching a bold vision for the future of farming: “precision agriculture,” an approach that uses advanced sensors, networking and artificial intelligence to help growers make more informed decisions.
A new demonstration project at Iron Horse Vineyards, in Sonoma County, is showing how digital agriculture might work on a real farm. The initiative is being driven by CENIC (the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California), whose statewide high-speed research network brings advanced connectivity to institutions across the state. By linking Iron Horse directly to CENIC’s ultra-fast network, researchers can stream huge amounts of environmental and biological data in real time. SDSC then helps turn that raw information into practical insights.
Read more at: University of California San Diego
Photo Credit: JillWellington via Pixabay
