Kansas State University

K-State to host 16th international precision agriculture conference in Manhattan

Submitted by Division of Communications and Marketing

Kansas State University is partnering with the International Society of Precision Agriculture to host the biennial International Conference on Precision Agriculture, or ICPA, in Manhattan later this month. In addition, K-State's Institute for Digital Agriculture and Advanced Analytics is hosting pre-conference workshops and participating in post-conference farm tour.

This prestigious conference is July 21-24 at the Manhattan Convention Center. The conference showcases significant research and its applications in precision agriculture and showcases emerging technologies and information management for agriculture. More than 400 attendees from 40 nations are registered for the conference.

"This is the first time in the 32-year history of the ICPA that the conference will be held in a college town," said Raj Khosla, K-State agronomy department head and founder and past president of the society. "The mission of the society is to advance the science of precision agriculture globally. Every two years, ICPA brings together the brightest minds from around the world under one canopy to share and advance the science and technologies of precision agriculture. I am delighted that K-State is the title sponsor and host of this event, as we have a significant stake in the field of precision agriculture. K-State's breadth of knowledge, capacity and competencies will be on full display at the conference."

K-State President Richard Linton and Khosla will welcome attendees to the conference, Manhattan and K-State. 

Pre-conference workshop topics include digital applications for practical agricultural uses, understanding Baysian modeling for data analysis, GIS-based spatial interpolation methods, machine learning and agricultural robotics. See a list of presenters on the conference website.

K-State is also participating in a post-conference regional precision ag bus tour, including Veris Technologies in Salina, the Martin Farm in Clay Center and Liquid Art Winery in Manhattan.

Sponsorship of the conference is a collective effort from K-State's College of Agriculture, Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, K-State Research Foundation, K-State USAID Sustainable Innovation Lab and the department of agronomy.

The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and the Manhattan Convention and Visitors Bureau are also providing critical support for the conference.