On the 10th of October, 2016, at the Agriculture Hall, Faculty of Agriculture, UPM, two presentations on large data in precision agriculture were given at the 5th Putra Plantation Forum. The first presentation entitled   “The Internet of Things and the Data Revolution in Agriculture” was delivered by Mr. Vishnu Nair, Regional Director (Asia Pacific) Pessl Instruments and the second presentation entitled “Satellite Based Crop Monitoring, Big Data and Where It is Taking Us” was given by Mr. Jim Castles, Australian Sales Manager, Geosys Australia.

The forum received an overwhelming response. Among the participants from outside agencies (29 participants) were from Felda Global Ventures (FGV), Advanced Agriecology Research (AAR) Sdn Bhd and Boustead Plantation Berhad. The other participants were the academic staff and postgraduate students of UPM (80 participants).  The speakers had to entertain many questions from the participants and this gave a strong indication of the wide interest in the topics being presented among the audience.

In the afternoon, IKP held a meeting with Pessl Instruments and Elite Scientific Instruments Sdn Bhd, their local agent. All parties showed keen interest in future collaboration. Potential of UPM researchers being trained in using a few field instruments (Pessl Instruments) to be parked in UPM ground was discussed. In addition, the prospect of joint organization of an international conference in 2017 was elaborated. A Memorandum of Agreement will be prepared covering the items discussed to be signed by the three parties in the near future.

Date of Input: | Updated: | ainzubaidah