Agricultural Trends,

USDA Research,
and Technological Advances

Thomas G. Shanower
Acting Director
Introduction
Trends in Agriculture and Food
What is NIFA
The US Agricultural Research Enterprise
Five Technologies that are transforming agriculture/food
1. Sensors/Drones/Satellites
2. Machine learning/AI/Analytics
3. Robotics
4. Microbiomes
5. Gene editing
(for each of these: what is it? An example. What problem does it
solve? How might it change things? What are the challenges?)
US Agricultural Research Enterprise
1. Private – corporations: largest share, often proprietary
2. Foundations – large (Gates $50B) to small (The Land Institute
$3M)
3. Public – land-grant universities (~120: research, extension,
education); federal government (NIFA-extramural; ARS-intramural;
NASS-statistical data; ERS-economic analysis)

Useful sources of information/contacts

1. USDA-Office of Communications: www.usda.gov/our-agency/staff-offices/office-communications-oc
2. USDA-ARS: www.ars.usda.gov/oc/press-room/
3. USDA-NIFA: NIFAMediaRequests@nifa.usda.gov
4. Your state Cooperative Extension Office**
What is NIFA?

Our Mission: Invest in and advance agricultural research,

education, and extension to solve societal challenges.

Our Vision: Catalyze transformative discoveries, education, and

engagement to address agricultural challenges.

Our Resources:
• A $1.6 billion agency (almost)
• Approximately half competitive, half capacity
Our Approach:
• Strategy integrates research, education, and
extension
• Ensures that groundbreaking scientific discoveries
are brought out of the laboratory and into the
hands of those who will use them
• Partnerships have an essential role in this
strategy
Putting scientific knowledge
into practice
• Research to provide answers to the complex issues
facing the nation and world
• Education to strengthen schools and universities to
train the next generations of scientists, educators,
producers, and citizens
• Extension to provide the knowledge gained through
research and education to the agricultural workforce
and enable them to put theory into practice
 How NIFA Works w/
Land Grant University Partners
• Federal Assistance (FY 18 – Almost $1.6B)
– Capacity Grants
– Competitive Grants
• Programmatic Leadership
– POW/AR Review
– Program Oversight
– Liaisons to States, Research & Cooperative Extension
Groups
– Communication: Federal Govt./Land Grant Universities
– Other, program specific
 Five technologies transforming
agriculture/food
1. Sensors/Drones/Satellites
Sensors: device to detect events, conditions or changes in the environment;
placed everywhere/anywhere
Drones: unmanned aerial vehicles
Satellites: artificial objects placed in orbit

Sensors: crop, soil, weather; maturity; yield, quality parameters;

Use of drones: soil and field analyses; planting; crop protection; crop monitoring;
fertilizer application; irrigation; delivery
Satellites: multispectral images; GIS; weather data
These tools allow increasingly precise, real-time characterization of site-specific
conditions; can reduce risk, drudgery, human error, and reduce labor costs.
Legal, financial, equity challenges as these come to “market”
Michigan State University
• $4.9M AFRI Grant developed
technology that uses drones
with 3 sensors:
– Multi-spectral camera for
chlorophyll & nutrient
status
– Thermal for plant temp.
– Laser for height

Image provided by the USDA

Agricultural Research Service
 Five technologies transforming
agriculture/food
2. Machine learning/Artificial intelligence/Analytics
Machine learning: statistical approach for computer systems to progressively
improve performance
AI: perceives environment, takes action that maximizes chance of success in
achieving goal
Analytics: discovery and interpretation of patterns in data

Analytics: Accelerated crop improvement; optimized farming practices; automated

and tracked production (traceback); characterize environmental impact and
sustainability

Improve efficiency and productivity

Challenge: who owns the data; great heterogeneity will increase testing and
validation costs
Florida International University
• AFRI grant to predict mycotixin
risk in US wine
• Uses climactic, pre-harvest,
post harvest factors
• May be adaptable to other
commodities

Image provided by the USDA

Agricultural Research Service
 Five technologies transforming
agriculture/food
3. Robotics
Design and use of robots for agriculture
See & spray: weeds, fertilizer, pesticides
Harvesting: strawberries, apples (320,000A @250-350 hrs/A)
Autonomous mowing, pruning, seeding, thinning
Phenotyping
Sorting, packing
Herding, sheparding, milking

What problem does it solve: LABOR

Challenges: ethics, financial

West Virginia University
• $700,000 AFRI grant led
to development proto-
type robotic bramble
pollinator
• $24B worth of US crops
require pollinators like
bees to produce yield
• Part of NIFA National
Robotics Initiative w/NSF Image provided by West Virginia University
 Five technologies the will transform
agriculture/food
4. Microbiomes – a community of microorganisms living together in a particular
habitat; an ecosystem of microorganisms e.g. human gut, rootzone, ruminant
animals

“If you think about a plant growing, it doesn’t grow by itself. The plant is growing
in association with a large range of microorganisms; many of them are able to
confer benefits on the growth of the plant,” Gwyn Beattie, Iowa State University
Plant Pathologist
Soil microbiome: supports/influences plant growth and cycling of carbon,
nitrogen and other minerals; using metagenomic sequencing identify
constituents and functional gene information.
Health, wellness, productivity, efficiency; could lead to more proscriptive,
precision remediation
Very complex, intricate systems
Iowa State University
• Bacteria in the soil, on the
plant surface, within leaves,
and between plant cells have
both positive and negative
effects
• Environmental conditions and
the bacteria’s response helps
to determine if disease will
occur
• Breed plants that accept
microbes?...Microbes that
provide greater plant benefits
given the environment? Image provided by the USDA
Agricultural Research Service
 Five technologies the will transform
agriculture/food
5. Gene editing – modifying an organism’s genetic material
Unlike earlier genetic engineering that randomly inserted genes into host
material, gene editing targets insertions to specific sites. Can be used to
insert or delete genes

CRISPR-Cas9 is one technology

Removing the caffeine gene from coffee; adding genes for drought/heat
tolerance

Approach could solve many problems in various plant/animal/microbial

species

Significant legal challenges; could go on for awhile

Oregon State University
• NIFA Biotech Risk
Assessment Grants
(BRAG) Program
• Containment traits using
gene editing keep new
poplar seedlings from
establishing by making
both genders sterile
(even GMO trees)
Image provided by Oregon State University
Questions?