VAIBHAV Summit - 2020 on “Automation of Farming System (V16H1S2)”

6^th October, 2020, Bhopal

The ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh organized a session on “Automation of Farming System (V16H1S2)” under the “Precision Agriculture” during the Vaishwik Bharatiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit - 2020 today.

Dr. K. Alagusundaram, Deputy Director General (Agricultural Engineering), ICAR along with Dr. Kanchan K. Singh, ADG (FE), ICAR and Dr. C.R. Mehta, Director, ICAR-CIAE, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh also virtually participated in the session.

The Eminent Scientists from India and abroad made presentations and deliberations on the various important aspects of Automation of  Farming System, viz., Robotics, Drones, Precision Input Management, Protected Cultivation, Livestock Management, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, etc.

Dr. Mehar S. Katkar, University of Sydney, Australia and Dr. Gyanendra Gaur, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh talked about the AI, IoT and applications of sensors for different activities in livestock management.

Dr. Nabarun Bhattacharya from C-DAC, Kolkata and Dr. Ajay Sharda, Kansas State University, U.S.A. focussed on the Navigation system and its applications in the precision agriculture, hybrid type of autonomous vehicle, AI for precise application of input and deep learning with possible areas of research collaborations.

Dr. Manzul K. Hazarika, AIT Bangkok and Dr. Ganesh Bora, USDA, U.S.A. made the presentations on drone-based technology with special emphasis on selection of drone and its basic developments, specific applications, market availability, guidelines for drone applications in India, consideration of small and marginal land holdings of Indian farms, developing standards for drones, etc.

Dr. Sreekala Bajwa, University of Montana, U.S.A. made the presentation on the technologies related to the mechanization of input management available overseas and Prof. V.K. Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur deliberated on the various indigenously developed precision farming technologies.

Dr. Pitam Chandra, Former Director, ICAR-CIAE, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and Dr. Dharmendra Saraswat, Purdue University, U.S.A. deliberated on the need of advancement and automation in the protected cultivation for meeting the food security challenges of the increasing population.

The various deliberations of the panellists and the session officials led to the identification of the areas for possible collaboration and exchange for research, training, etc. namely - AI and IoT applications for livestock management (breeding, milking, phenomics and comfort), Drone in agriculture (development, application and regulations), the Precise input management through VRT (map-based and sensor-based)., the Artificial intelligence, big data management for affordable robotics application for small Indian farms and the automation in covered cultivation especially for high value crops (vertical farming, hydroponics and integrated systems).

A total of 856 participants including 33 panellists from India and abroad virtually participated in the session.

(Source: ICAR-Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh)