Lav R. Khot
KEYNOTE
Smart Farms, Ag Cyber physical Systems and Metrology
Lav R. Khot
Professor of Precision Ag and Director of AgWeatherNet - Washington State University, USA
ABSTRACT
This keynote will explore the transformative potential of smart farming through the integration of agricultural cyber-physical systems, enabling near real-time, site-specific crop production management. Using case studies in fruit and berry crops grown in Washington State (USA), the discussion will underscore the pivotal role of metrology in precision agriculture, addressing the practical challenges of implementing continuous weather and crop stressor monitoring systems. The talk will also examine how AI/ML-driven edge and cloud computing enhances these cyber-physical systems, enabling data-driven insights for proactive decision-making.
Since 2019, the author has played a leading role in advancing smart farm innovations through public-private partnerships, establishing multiple commercial smart apple orchard and vineyard testbeds. This presentation will highlight the experiential learning opportunities these testbeds provide, fostering collaboration among private industry partners, university researchers, and grower stakeholders to drive meaningful technology development and adoption.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Lav R. Khot is the Professor of Precision Agriculture and Director of AgWeatherNet at Washington State University. His research and extension program in precision agriculture focuses on integrating advanced sensing and automation technologies to improve the efficiency of irrigated and tree fruit crop production. He has advised over 30 graduate students, postdocs, Fulbright and international scholars as well as over 20 undergraduate interns. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed research and extension articles (google scholar citations: 5,337, h-index of 33) and has developed several weather-guided decision support tools and smartphone applications to help growers effectively mitigate crop stressors. Under his leadership, AgWeatherNet, a network of over 360 weather stations, is being overhauled to provide crucial weather data and decision support to enhance the resilience of Washington's agriculture, animal, and human health systems. Dr. Khot is playing a leadership role in bringing AI-driven tools into Washington agriculture through the USDA-NIFA funded AgAID Institute, where he co-leads the Farm Operations Intelligence thrust efforts. He is also leading collaborative efforts that have established the public-private partnership-driven 'Smart Apple Orchard Testbed(s)' in commercial settings for effective smart ag-tech evaluation and grower education. He continues to serve as an Associate Editor of the Journal of ASABE and has been co-organizing special sessions at the IEEE MetroAgriFor past few years.
