{"type":"video","version":"1.0","html":"<iframe src=\"https://www.loom.com/embed/9357f9d4e0114a01879ac609b3ef9bcb\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>","height":1440,"width":1920,"provider_name":"Loom","provider_url":"https://www.loom.com","thumbnail_height":1440,"thumbnail_width":1920,"thumbnail_url":"https://cdn.loom.com/sessions/thumbnails/9357f9d4e0114a01879ac609b3ef9bcb-00001.gif","duration":979.6699999999995,"title":"Crop and Water Monitoring Networks with Low-Cost Technology - A.J. Brown","description":"Presented at the 2023 Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Conference. Making meaningful changes in agroecosystems often requires the ability to monitor many environmental parameters to accurately identify potential areas for improvement in water quality and crop production. Increasingly, research questions are requiring larger and larger monitoring networks to draw applicable insights for both researchers and producers. However, acquiring enough sensors to address a particular research question is often cost-prohibitive, making it harder to draw meaningful conclusions from data collection. Even if enough sensors can be acquired, often data cannot flow freely between sensor manufacturer data platforms, adding to the time and labor costs associated with data analysis and delivery. This can also prohibit real-time data access, which is critical to subsequent decision-making (e.g., deciding whether to apply fungicide to a sugarbeet crop). To help address these concerns, the Colorado State University Agricultural Water Quality Program (AWQP) has developed low-cost, edge-of-field (EoF) and crop health monitoring systems with Internet of Things (IoT) technology for scalable, near-real-time research. For EoF monitoring, the AWQP developed an automated water sampler that could detect flow depth and sample water remotely for approximately 1/10th of the cost of an equivalent commercial model. The sampler was deployed in 5 research locations across Colorado in 2022. For crop health monitoring purposes, the AWQP worked with Western Sugar agronomists to develop a temperature and humidity sensor capable of calculating daily infection values of Cercospora leaf spot for optimized fungicide applications. After harvest, this device can interchange sensors to become a sugarbeet storage pile temperature monitor. All developed sensors have been compared to commercial/existing methods for monitoring, and results will be discussed. Please don't hesitate to contact me at Ansley.Brown@colostate.edu"}