January 29, 2016
CapitalPress.com
1
A YEAR OF IDAHO
INNOVATION
CUTTING-EDGE
TECHNOLOGY
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
P
ARMA, Idaho —
University of Ida-
ho researcher Olga
Walsh is studying
the use of cut-
ting-edge methodologies to
help farmers use nutrients and
water more effi ciently.
Walsh, a cropping systems
agronomist,
said farmers
have embraced
technologies
such as glob-
al positioning
satellites but
she believes
the next big
step is for
producers to
adopt the use
of precision
agriculture on
a large scale to
improve water
and nutrient
use effi ciency.
The tech-
nology
is
already there to do that, re-
searchers just need to develop
ways to help farmers deter-
mine how best to use it, she
said.
“Our big challenge is to
use these precision tools to
improve the effi ciency of
our cropping systems,” said
Walsh, who started work at
UI’s Parma Research and
Extension Center in Septem-
ber of 2014. “I think in the
future precision agriculture
is going to just be a normal
part of agriculture.”
One of Walsh’s main pri-
orities is to develop a system
that uses unmanned aerial
vehicles to monitor wheat
fi elds for nutrient and water
stress.
Remote sensing cameras
on the UAVs would show the
light refl ectance of the crop’s
canopy and an algorithm
specifi c to Idaho conditions
would interpret the data and
show farmers how they can
best use nitrogen and water
to optimize yields.
That type of system al-
ready exists but it is not spe-
cifi c to Idaho conditions, said
Walsh.
“We just need to develop
the methodology so a grower
can go and buy the (drone and
software) as a package,” she
said.
That project will include
using UAVs to drag sticky
traps across wheat fi elds
so researchers can moni-
tor populations of fusarium
spores and determine if the
fi eld needs to
be treated for
the pathogen,
which can lead
to
fusarium
head blight.
Parma re-
search station
superinten-
dent
James
Barbour said
Walsh’s work
with
UAVs
and other pre-
cision agricul-
ture techniques
is
exciting,
and her back-
ground in that
area is one of
the reasons she was hired.
“We think (precision ag-
riculture is) going to play a
huge role in agriculture in
the future,” he said. “There
is a lot of untapped potential
there. I think (Walsh) is going
to be a real important player
... in agriculture in Idaho.”
Walsh is also working on
a project to develop reference
strips and precision sensors
that can tell a wheat farmer
how much nitrogen is in a
certain part of his fi eld.
“They will know exact-
ly how much nitrogen they
have down ... and can use
that information to gauge the
rest of their crop,” said Cathy
Wilson, the Idaho Wheat
Commission’s director of re-
search collaboration. Walsh
also plans to develop sus-
tainable cropping systems for
dual-purpose biennial canola
and evaluate biological seed
and foliar products to im-
prove bean yield and quality.
Born and raised in St.
Petersburg, Russia, Walsh
worked as a soil nutrient
management specialist at
Montana State University
from 2010 to 2014.
This story fi rst appeared
on was March 6, 2015.
BOOSTS PRECISION
Olga Walsh
uses precision
agriculture to
help farmers
improve their
effi ciency
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
University of Idaho cropping systems agronomist Olga Walsh uses a pocket sensor to measure crop refl ectance in a winter
wheat fi eld at UI’s Parma research center. Walsh is studying the use of cutting edge methodologies to help farmers improve
water and nutrient use effi ciency.
Olga Walsh
Title: Cropping
systems
agronomist,
University of Idaho
Education:
Bachelor’s degree
in soil science, St.
Petersburg State
University, Russia;
master’s and Ph.D.
degrees in soil
science, Oklahoma
State University
Home: Nampa,
Idaho
Family: Husband,
Stephen, and three
children, ages 12,
6 and 3
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
This DJI Phantom 3 drone and others are rapidly becoming part of precision
agriculture as innovators such as Olga Walsh investigate ways to put them to
work on the farm.