The DFG-funded Cluster of Excellence PhenoRob has initiated the international network in collaboration with renowned scientists from the Artificial Intelligence for Future Agricultural Resilience, Management, and Sustainability (AIFARMS) Institute, ETH Zürich, and Wageningen University & Research to combine competencies and push the state of the art in the field of sustainable crop production forward. “Our goal for DigiCrop.Net is to intensify our collaborations and serve as a hub to connect our partners. DigiCrop.Net brings together key institutions in the field of technology for more sustainable crop production,” says Prof. Dr. Cyrill Stachniss, spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence PhenoRob at the University of Bonn and coordinator of the network.
Within DigiCrop.Net, around 90 scientists conduct research in the areas of new field arrangements, targeted interventions and other management actions, support measures for plant breeding, phenotypic trait estimation, simulations, and forecasts about the state of agro-ecosystems but also predictions, upscaling, and impact estimation from an economic, ecological, and sustainability point of view. Collaboration within the network is ongoing, from Ph.D. student workshops to research symposia, delegation visits, and many more. DigiCrop.Net will further expand such activities as part of the new network and offer funding for research stays.
The network’s flagship conference is the International Conference on Digital Technologies for Sustainable Crop Production (DigiCrop), a large scientific event addressing an international and interdisciplinary audience working at the intersection of engineering, robotics, computer science, crop sciences, agricultural sciences, phenotyping, and economics. The next DigiCrop conference, which will be jointly hosted by the partners of DigiCrop.Net, will take place in 2025.