2021-02-26
By Miriam Martinez, CITRIS Graphic Design Intern and Psychology Student, UC Merced class of 2023
Available as an online webinar, the CITRIS Research Exchange featured UC Merced’s Tom Harmon, Director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute and Chair and Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering. He presented his ongoing program the Labor and Automation in California Agriculture (LACA): Equity, Productivity, & Resilience. Funded by the UC Office of the President for $3.1 million for four UC campuses, LACA is intended to change the way California farms food in a way that is both environmentally friendly and boosts the economy. At its core, technology is a solution that will be carefully implemented to preserve jobs for a skilled workforce, leading to the vibrancy of the valley.
“We’d really like to see some of the big ones come out of this work in terms of can we bring more social equality and less social injustice to the farming region… If we can begin build more of an ecology and more productive path in the career pathway and a better environment to live people would want to stay here and we’d have a nice place here in the valley instead of having to crowd along to coast to get that fresh air.” Harmon said.
The reason is to adapt to the changes in California farm workforce and land availability. Traditional farming requires backbreaking intense labor, secure water resources, and extensive inputs like fertilizer to maintain crops. However, LACA hopes to solve most of these issues with the implementation of more sophisticated technology which will help manage farms sustainably. Sensors will be used to ensure the proper use of water. Robots will be used to help maintain plant health and communicate to farmers of any issues via a server. The technology will be given to farms of all sizes, big or small. Currently they’re in the works of trying to help smaller farms be able to afford this technology through various means like Co-Op to ensure they can reduce the amount of stress on the employees. This technology will not only help the farmer’s, but it will also create new jobs for students researching in STEM and provide jobs close to them.
It is interesting how far technology has become where projects like this seem close to fruition. With this new way of agriculture, we hope to see a growth in the Central Valley creating a more sustainable, safe, and hopeful future for many low-income families. As a UC Merced student, in the heart of America’s most productive agricultural lands, I am excited to see the Central Valley will grow thanks to LACA and the future of ag-tech holds.
The team is working together to make this future possible, including amazing talent here from CITRIS at UC Merced. Leading with Harmon is Erin Hestir, Associate Professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Colleen Naughton, Assistant Professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering. Stefano Carpin, Professor and founding chair in Computer Science and Engineering, is also helping as a researcher for the program. Joshua Viers, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute at UC Merced, is also helping with research for LACA. These professors and the combined efforts of many others throughout the UC system hope to push ag-tech forward for a brighter future.
If you are interested in watching the seminar, CITRIS has uploaded it in full on YouTube. For Harmon, the next step is for his team to write a trans-disciplinary writing piece encouraging policy makers to become interested in converging approaches to agriculture. The next Research Exchange is on The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death, and Legacy of One Laptop per Child with Morgan Ames. Make sure to register for this seminar to engage in a conversation with the presenter.