Improving agriculture through digital technologies: 3rd Annual Symposium takes place in Saskatoon October 17-18

The 3rd Annual P2IRC Symposium, Mobilizing P2IRC: Process, Target, Engagement was held October 17-18, 2018 at the Delta Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon. The event was hosted by the Global Institute for Food Security, who manages the Plant Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centre, located at the University of Saskatchewan, and funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

Nearly 300 participants including researchers and industry, and students involved in P2IRC-related research.

The four themes of P2IRC were highlighted in 18 sessions throughout the Symposium: Phenometrics, Image Acquisition Technologies, Computational Informatics of Crop Phenotype Data, and Societal and Developing World Impact.

The Symposium also included a panel discussion on potential commercial opportunities for P2IRC, a luncheon keynote on Pulses for Improved Food and Nutrition in Southern Ethiopia, and a special workshop on Quantum Computing by IBM.

Student Poster Competition

The Symposium featured a student poster competition that provided an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to showcase their research. Fifty-one poster entries and abstracts were displayed throughout the Symposium and highlighted the multidisciplinary and exciting nature of the P2IRC projects, and the contribution of many talented students to P2IRC’s progress.

Five prizes of $250 CAD were awarded to the best posters in the four themes of P2IRC and the additional category of the People’s Choice Award.

Winners included:

Theme 1: Phenometrics
 
Poster Title: Canopy biomass and temperature differences among elite soybean varieties grown under irrigated and non-irrigated conditions.
 
Authors: Clair Gahagan, Malcolm Morrison, Pouria Sadeghi-Tehran, Malcolm Hawkesford

Theme 2: Image Acquisition Technologies,
 
Poster Title: Utilization of U AV-Based Hyperspectral Imaging Technique on Acquiring Phenotypic Characteristics of Prairie.
 
Authors: Keshav D. Singh, Hema S. Duddu and Steve Shirtliffe

Dr. Maurice Moloney and Keshav Singh

Theme 3: Computational Informatics of Crop Phenotype Data,
 
Poster Title: Beyond Orthomosaics Multi-image Analysis of Per Plot Vegetative Indices from UAV Imagery
 
Authors: Travis Gray

Travis Gray
 

Theme 4: Societal and Developing World Impact.
 
Poster Title: Risk and Benefits of New Breeding Techniques
 
Authors: Rim Lassoued, Stuart J. Smyth, Peter W. Philips and Hayley Hesseln

For more information on the 2018 P2IRC Symposium, including session videos and photos, please visit: www.p2irc.usask.ca.

P²IRC, located at the U of S and managed by GIFS, was launched with funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).