The Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources announces the IANR Digital Ag DNA Networking and Engagement Series. The second session in the series will be held in the Great Plains Room on East Campus, Dec. 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. CT. Lunch will be provided.
During the inaugural session on Nov. 4, more than 50 faculty, staff and graduate students from research, teaching and Extension participated in the conversation. The event brought together colleagues from multiple IANR units to share ongoing work in digital agriculture, build connections and identify opportunities to advance collaborative innovation to build the Digital Agriculture Hub.
The Nebraska Digital Agriculture Hub will be a collaborative platform — physical, virtual, hybrid — centered at the University of Nebraska that serves as a convergence point for research, innovation, education and engagement in digital agriculture. It brings together university expertise, public stakeholders, industry partners, producers and technology developers to accelerate the adoption, co-creation and impact of data-driven agricultural solutions.
The mission of the Nebraska Digital Agriculture Hub is to catalyze interdisciplinary research, education and Extension that accelerates the adoption of digital technologies across crop, livestock and natural resource systems.
The event series is organized by the Digital Agriculture Task Force and sponsored by IANR, the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, and the Department of Biological Systems Engineering.
Guillermo Balboa, event host, said, “These Digital Ag DNA events are critical for building connections and awareness, as well as for brainstorming the goals of our future IANR Digital Agriculture Hub. Our Digital Ag task force has been working for several months, building momentum through the strategic document, internal surveys and these engagement opportunities.”
The session opened with welcome remarks from Richard Ferguson (AGROHORT), Mark Stone (BSE) and Tala Awada (ARD), and included an overview of IANR’s Digital Ag Strategic Framework, which outlines the mission for a Nebraska Digital Agriculture Hub. Attendees also reviewed key findings from the IANR Digital Ag Survey, highlighting strong statewide capacity in remote sensing, precision crop and natural resources management, irrigation technologies and decision-support tool development.
A Digital Ag Booth was also featured in the room, showcasing ongoing projects on precision and digital agriculture. Attendees had the opportunity to engage directly with graduate students who demonstrated their work with agricultural robots, field sensors, UAVs, and other digital tools currently being tested and adopted in Nebraska agriculture.
A series of fifteen three-minute lightning talks showcased success stories across IANR — from precision nitrogen management and irrigation decision tools, to plant phenotyping, wildlife-agriculture integration, digital irrigation scheduling, AI-assisted farm management and Extension-based testing of digital tools directly in farmers’ fields.
The event concluded with roundtable discussions where participants identified shared strengths, barriers, opportunities and goals to accelerate digital agriculture efforts towards the IANR Digital Agriculture Hub. Common themes included the importance of reducing silos, sustaining collaboration across units, expanding field-based testing platforms and engaging producers and industry early in the development.
The event report, including slide decks and a summary of the discussions can be found here.
“We want to make sure that everyone working on digital ag or who is interested in including digital ag in their programs has an opportunity to engage and share their ideas,” Balboa said.
Overall, the event demonstrated the strong momentum, talent and statewide infrastructure that position IANR to lead in digital agriculture. Participants emphasized the value of connecting regularly and recommended continuing this engagement series.
Session 2 will continue building collaborative energy across units and highlight emerging research, Extension initiatives and digital agriculture learning opportunities.
Registration:
Visit the event website to register.
All faculty, staff and graduate students are welcome.
For more information, contact Balboa, Digital Ag Task Force, at gbalboa7@nebraska.edu
