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Advanced Agricultural Technologies: Monitoring, Modeling, and Machine Learning Techniques

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2025 | Viewed by 1532

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Interests: water quality; hydrology; nutrient management; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61810, USA
Interests: nonpoint source pollution; water quality; agricultural systems; erosion and sediment control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This journal’s Special Issue entitled “Advanced Agricultural Technologies: Monitoring, Modeling, and Machine Learning Techniques” seeks the most recent works exploring the strategic role of monitoring, modeling, and machine learning (ML) techniques in modern agriculture. The agricultural sector is undergoing a profound transformation with the integration of advanced technologies aimed at enhancing productivity, sustainability, and resilience. Advanced monitoring systems, including IoT sensors and remote sensing technologies, enable real-time data collection on various environmental and crop-specific parameters. These data are instrumental in developing predictive models that simulate and optimize agricultural processes, leading to more precise resource management. Machine learning techniques further enhance these models by analyzing vast datasets to uncover patterns, forecast outcomes, and support decision-making processes. Therefore, this convergence of technologies offers the potential to revolutionize traditional farming practices, driving efficiencies and reducing environmental impacts.

The scope of this Special Issue includes the latest developments in advanced monitoring systems, such as Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, remote sensing technologies, and other innovative tools that enable real-time data collection on various environmental and agricultural parameters. The journal also gives significant focus to the application of various agricultural and hydrological models to simulate agricultural processes, optimize resource use, and enhance decision-making in sustainable agriculture management plans. The journal also places a strong emphasis on the application of machine learning techniques, which can analyze vast datasets to identify patterns, predict outcomes, and support informed decision-making in agriculture.

Dr. Soonho Hwang
Dr. Rabin Bhattarai
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • irrigation
  • drainage
  • nutrient
  • water quality
  • agricultural modeling
  • hydrological modeling
  • machine learning
  • remote sensing
  • uncertainty assessment
  • sustainable agriculture

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 5589 KiB  
Article
A Lightweight Deep Learning Model for Forecasting the Fishing Ground of Purpleback Flying Squid (Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis) in the Northwest Indian Ocean
by Shengmao Zhang, Junlin Chen, Haibin Han, Fenghua Tang, Xuesen Cui and Yongchuang Shi
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(3), 1219; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15031219 - 24 Jan 2025
Viewed by 478
Abstract
The purpleback flying squid (Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis) is an economically significant cephalopod species in the Northwest Indian Ocean. Predicting its fishing grounds can provide a crucial foundation for fishery management and production. In this research, we collected data from China’s light-purse seine [...] Read more.
The purpleback flying squid (Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis) is an economically significant cephalopod species in the Northwest Indian Ocean. Predicting its fishing grounds can provide a crucial foundation for fishery management and production. In this research, we collected data from China’s light-purse seine fishery in the Northwest Indian Ocean from 2016 to 2020 to train and validate the AlexNet and VGG11 models. We designed a data partitioning method (DPM) to divide the training set into three scenarios, namely DPM-S1, DPM-S2, and DPM-S3. Firstly, DPM-S1 was employed to select the base model (BM). Subsequently, the optimal BM was lightweighted to obtain the optimal model (OM). The OM, known as the AlexNetMini model, has a model size that is one-third of that of the BM-AlexNet model. Our results also showed the following: (1) the F1-scores for AlexNet and AlexNetMini across the datasets DPM-S1, -S2, and -S3 were 0.6957, 0.7505, and 0.7430 for AlexNet and 0.6992, 0.7495, and 0.7486 for AlexNetMini, suggesting that both models exhibited comparable predictive performance; (2) the optimal dropout values for the AlexNetMini model were 0 and 0.2, and the optimal training set proportion was 0.8; (3) AlexNetMini utilized both DPM-S2 and DPM-S3, yielding comparable outcomes. However, given that the training duration for DPM-S3 was relatively shorter, DPM-S3 was selected as the preferred method for data partitioning. The findings of our study indicated that the lightweight model for the purpleback flying squid fishing ground prediction, specifically AlexNetMini, demonstrated superior performance compared to the original AlexNet model, particularly in terms of efficiency. Our study on the lightweight method for deep learning models provided a reference for enhancing the usability of deep learning in fisheries. Full article
16 pages, 3168 KiB  
Article
Impact of Subsurface Drainage System Design on Nitrate Loss and Crop Production
by Soonho Hwang, Shailendra Singh, Rabin Bhattarai, Hanseok Jeong and Richard A. Cooke
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(22), 10180; https://doi.org/10.3390/app142210180 - 6 Nov 2024
Viewed by 808
Abstract
Subsurface (or tile) drainage offers a valuable solution for enhancing crop productivity in poorly drained soils. However, this practice is also associated with significant nutrient leaching, which can contribute to water quality problems at the regional scale. This research presents the findings from [...] Read more.
Subsurface (or tile) drainage offers a valuable solution for enhancing crop productivity in poorly drained soils. However, this practice is also associated with significant nutrient leaching, which can contribute to water quality problems at the regional scale. This research presents the findings from a 4-year tile depth and spacing study in central Illinois that included three drain spacings (12.2, 18.3, and 24.4 m) and two drain depths (0.8 and 1.1 m) implemented in six plots under the corn and soybean rotation system (plots CS-1 and CS-3: 12.2 m spacing and 1.1 m depth, plots CS-2 and CS-4: 24.4 m spacing and 1.1 m depth, and plots CS-5 and CS-6 18.3 m spacing and 0.8 m depth). Our observations indicate that drain flow and NO3-N losses were higher in plots with narrower drain spacings, while plots with wider drain spacing showed reduced drain flow and NO3-N losses. Specifically, plots set up with drain spacings of 18.3 m and 24.4 m showed significant reductions in drain flow compared to plots featuring a 12.2 m drain spacing. Likewise, plots characterized by 18.3 m and 24.4 m drain spacings (except CS-4) showed better NO3-N retention and lower leaching losses than those with 12.2 m spacing (CS-1 and CS-3). Crop yield results over a 3-year period indicated that CS-2 (wider spacing plot) showed the highest productivity, with up to 13.6% higher yield compared to other plots. Furthermore, when comparing plots with the same drainage designs, CS-2 and CS-4 showed 5.1% to 2.6% higher corn yield (3-year average) compared to CS-1 and CS-3, and CS-5 and CS-6, respectively. Overall, a wider drainage system showed the capacity to export lower nutrient levels while concurrently enhancing productivity. These findings represent that optimizing tile drainage systems can effectively reduce nitrate losses while increasing crop productivity. Full article
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