Zooming in on precision agriculture

The University of Minnesota’s groundbreaking Precision Agriculture Center uses the latest technology to assist with optimal crop growth.

Researcher in a lab with equipment and computer data displays, representing precision agriculture work.
Pierre Robert, founder of the Precision Agriculture Center, next to a precision agriculture display.
Pierre Robert promoting precision agriculture at the Minnesota State Fair.

Before Yuxin Miao settles in to share his research in precision agriculture, he gives a gracious nod to the person who figuratively brought him to the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) in the first place.

That’s Pierre Robert, considered to be “the father of precision agriculture.” In 1995, Robert created the world’s first Precision Agriculture Center (PAC) at the University of Minnesota, and he organized the first six international conferences in the field.

Yuxin Miao, PAC director, speaking to a group and pointing at a computer screen.
Yuxin Miao

Miao, associate professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, became the PAC’s director in July 2023, and is excited to be carrying the torch in a field that’s critically important to the success of growers in Minnesota and around the world. 

Precision agriculture, simply put, uses technology and data to help farms become more efficient. At the University of Minnesota, the PAC encompasses partners from all aspects of agriculture and technology, including the Departments of Soil, Water, and Climate; Agronomy and Plant Genetics; Plant Pathology; Entomology; and Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering in CFANS, plus entities like the College of Science and Engineering and GEMS Informatics. 

Miao’s research focuses on precision nutrient management—specifically nitrogen but including nutrients like phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur—and the integration of nitrogen with other aspects of management like seeding optimization and irrigation. 

And the scope of his work goes far beyond small research plots, as it needs to account for spatial and temporal (seasonal/time-related) variability. “We work closely with farmers to do on-farm experiments directly in their whole fields,” Miao says. “Not only the experiments, but we also demonstrate some of the technologies with their equipment.”

On-farm research with tangible benefits for farmers

His nitrogen management technology uses satellite remote sensing, which collects daily images with three-meter spatial resolution. It monitors crop growth and includes factors like the farmer’s early nitrogen application information and soil-landscape conditions to determine how much additional nitrogen will be needed and where it will be needed. 

To illustrate, one farmer that Miao has worked with in Wheaton, Minnesota, used to apply all his nitrogen fertilizer early in the season, before planting. Some years he applied too much and some years not enough. From on-farm experimental work, they found the optimal nitrogen rate changed from year to year, and the spatial variability was illustrated for the farmer. 

“Now he has the opportunity to make in-season, site-specific adjustments,” Miao says. “He really liked this idea and he has changed from applying all the nitrogen before planting to split applications.”

Group photo of attendees at the 2025 Minnesota On-Farm Precision Agriculture Research Network meeting.
The Precision Agriculture Center hosted the 2025 Minnesota On-Farm Precision Agriculture Research Network.

Miao has established the Minnesota On-Farm Precision Agriculture Research Network, which includes crop consultants, farmers, and others in the industry, to facilitate the adoption of advanced precision agriculture technologies by the growers in Minnesota. 

“Every year, we support them to do the on-farm research and trials, and then every year we organize a network meeting to share the results of the farmers and crop consultants and learn from each other.”

Getting to the bottom of corn stress

Precision agriculture technology is constantly evolving. It includes technologies both new and really new: remote sensing, global positioning system (GPS), geographic information science, crop growth modeling, crop and soil sensing, automated guidance, and robotics. Add to that the tools of AI and big data.

Ce Yang, PAC associate director, smiling in a headshot with a green background.
Ce Yang

Ce Yang and her team of researchers are clearly on the high-tech end of precision agriculture. An associate professor in bioproducts and biosystems engineering and associate director of the PAC, Yang has focused much of her work on drone remote sensing, where hyperspectral imaging can detect disease and stress early in crops. That allows farmers to manage their crops soon after problems are detected.

As she worked with University of Minnesota breeders and plant pathologists in their phenotyping (the assessment of a plant’s expressed traits), she became interested in replacing some of the necessary field labor with other remote sensing methods to accelerate the phenotyping.

Ce Yang’s team testing the Omni AgRobot in a lab.
Researchers testing the Omni AgRobot, a robot dog, in a cornfield using a laptop for remote control.
Researchers operating the Omni AgRobot near a cornfield and red vehicle.

She and her team have developed two high-tech tools. There's the AgRover—a six-wheeled robot inspired by the Mars Rover—that can maneuver in a field under favorable soil conditions. And there's also the all-terrain Omni AgRobot, affectionately and appropriately known as the robot dog. 

The quadruped robot dog can enter into a field between rows of corn, and is capable of finding nitrogen deficiency in the lower leaves of stalks that can’t be seen from overhead. 

Yang recently brought prototypes of the robot dog, AgRover, and a drone to a show-and-tell, of sorts, for University of Minnesota Day at the Capitol. 

UMN students showcasing agricultural robots at CFANS Day at the Capitol.
Ce Yang’s team shows off the AgRover and the Omni AgRobot in the rotunda of the state capitol.

Yang believes the robot dog can be scaled up affordably in the future to help farmers with this form of precision farming. She’s refining it to be even narrower, and to be autonomous—able to turn corners and go row-by-row through fields. 

And if the fields need to be managed? Yang has students working on “manipulators” for the robot dog that could detect and remove weeds or even deliver a payload of nitrogen. Once it sees the deficiency under the canopy it could directly apply fertilizer on the spot, she hopes. It’s not dissimilar to the capabilities of a standard canine.

Both the ag rover and robot dog are in the same stage of development, with sensors being added for perception and navigations.

Says Yang: “My group will continue the value proposition, and we are actively reaching out to the farm community to find a good way to frame the robots in their problem-solving.”

Download video transcript.

Precision ag leads to less pollution… and more profit

Illustration of plants growing with an upward arrow for crop yield increase.

The stakes are high in precision farming to aid in cost-effective increased production while watching out for the environment. 

“To push this industry further, if we look at what farmers are really needing from us, it’s to have even higher production, even higher yield,” Yang says. “The tradition for crop management is to apply excessive, uniform rates of fertilizers to the field to guarantee the highest yield that farmers need. But that’s caused a lot of issues, as we know today. The extra fertilizer runs off from the field and contaminates our groundwater and surface water and the Mississippi River. The contamination is everywhere. We can’t ignore that. Also, the chemical use is another thing … and many of those applications are not necessary. 

“For us, as precision ag researchers, we promote the four Rs, which is to apply the right material with the right rate in the right location at the right time.” 

 

Right Material

 

Right Rate

 

Right Location

 

Right Time

The work of the PAC—its evolution and evangelism—continues to thrill Miao. “As agricultural scientists, we want to contribute to sustainable development and also contribute to food security, resource use efficiency, climate change mitigation, and adaptation,” he says. “Precision agriculture can contribute to all of this. So it’s very exciting to work in this area. This is the future of agriculture!”

Giving Link

If you were inspired by this story, please consider a donation to Driven to Discover Sustainable Agriculture Fund.

Related Links

Learn more about the Precision Agriculture Center at the University of Minnesota.

See the CFANS “Campus Curiosities” feature on Ce Yang and the Agricultural Robotics Lab. 

Learn about GEMS Informatics at the University of Minnesota. (GEMS is short for Genetic, Environmental, Management, and Socioeconomic data.)

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