Greener Pastures
Greener Pastures
January 11, 2021MSU researchers have garnered a nearly $2.6 million grant to work with farmers across the country to make their fields more eco-friendly while boosting their farms’ bottom lines. Led by MSU Foundation Professor Bruno Basso, the team is developing conservation practices that cut losses on unproductive plots. The grant is part of a nationwide initiative called On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Basso and his team bring expertise in what’s known as digital agriculture to the program. Using images of fields captured by drones, planes and satellites, the researchers create maps of different fields of the same farm. These maps help farmers and researchers develop plans for each location, such as which crops to plant and what management strategies to use for maximum savings and profit.
