'Curious Conversations' podcast: Maaz Gardezi on developing agriculture tech alongside farmers
Maaz Gardezi joined Virginia Tech’s "Curious Conversations" podcast to talk about the importance of developing agriculture technology alongside and with the input of farmers. He shared details about a current interdisciplinary project he’s working on at the intersection of technology and agriculture as well as his thoughts on the potential for advanced technology in this space.
About Gardezi
Gardezi is an assistant professor of sociology in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. He has spent more than a decade working at the intersection of farmers and decision-making.
Three takeaways from the conversation
Living labs involve designing technology in the real world and with individuals who are not research subjects as much as co-collaborators.
While advanced technology hardware often can be too expensive for smaller farms, utilizing satellite imagery to better understand soil nutrients and plant growth is one of the more cost-effective ways such farms can benefit.
Training artificial intelligence and machine learning technology on a diversity of farms, both in size and topography, is a key to their successful integration.
More on Gardezi
Cross-disciplinary research to create more sustainable practices for local farmers
NSF grant supports research on farmers’ attitudes toward precision agriculture technologies
+Policy Fellows program supports new research to improve lives globally
About the podcast
"Curious Conversations" is a series of free-flowing conversations with Virginia Tech researchers that take place at the intersection of world-class research and everyday life. Produced and hosted by Virginia Tech writer and editor Travis Williams, university researchers share their expertise and motivations as well as the practical applications of their work in a format that more closely resembles chats at a cookout than classroom lectures. New episodes are shared each Tuesday.
