PSLA announces USDA grant award for $5.16 Million

The Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture is proud to announce a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant award for $5.16 Million.

The US Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (www.csrees.usda.gov) has awarded a $5.16M Specialty Crops Research Initiative Grant to investigate Precision Irrigation and Nutrient Management for Nursery, Greenhouse and Green Roof Systems, using Wireless Sensor Networks.

This grant, combined with an additional $5.16M in matching funding from various sources, will bring together a multidisciplinary group of engineers, plant scientists, economists, and extension specialists from five universities and two commercial companies to develop the next generation of tools to precisely monitor plant water use, allow for better control of irrigation water applications, and increase the efficiency of water and nutrient use by commercial growers.

Dr. John Lea-Cox from the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, is leading the project together with Dr. George Kantor at the Robotics Institute - Carnegie Mellon University; Dr. William Bauerle at Colorado State University; Dr. Marc van Iersel at the  University of Georgia; Dr. Taryn Bauerle at Cornell University; Dr.Dennis King at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science; Decagon Devices, Inc. in Pullman, WA; and Antir Software in Jarrettsville, MD.

This grant will open up unlimited opportunities for our faculty, students, and staff, and will provide the green industry with environmentally-sound ground-breaking new technology, to improve the productivity and profitability of this important sector of agriculture.

This is also an exciting opportunity for collaborative research between the Department of PSLA, the College of Agroculture & Natural Resources, and the various universities and commercial partners in the project.

For more information, please contact Dr. John Lea-Cox, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at jlc@umd.edu or 301-405-4323.