Francis J. Pierce

Center for Precision Agricultural Systems
Research at the Center for Precision Agricultural Systems

Francis Pierce

The Center for Precision Agricultural Systems (CPAS) research programs are focused on increasing the profitability and environmental performance of agricultural production systems in the Pacific Northwest through technological innovations that improve crop quality, increase input efficiencies, and reduce system losses. Current CPAS research topic areas involve sensors and sensor networks, remote sensing, orchard automation, precision conservation, traceability, integrated pest management, site-specific nutrient management, real-time monitoring and control, and quantifying the human dimensions of agricultural systems. Current research projects include:

Development of telemetry networks to monitor weather, soil, crop, and pests/diseases and to control irrigation, chemigation, and frost protection.
Design and testing of sensors, including a patent-pending system for crop load estimation of grapes and an electronic insect sensor for the codling moth.
Use of remote sensors for crop density maps to optimize tree fruit canopies; for acreage surveys by crop characteristics; for invasive pest monitoring, and for crop load estimation using ground-based sensing techniques.
Development of autonomous, private industry-based field operations (e.g, for spraying, mowing, pruning) in support of orchard automation.
Development of fruit traceability technologies that track tree fruit from the tree through the packing lines.
Collaboration with the scientists at the University of Wisconsin to automatically track and map manure applications in a research project to understand the space-time human dimensions of non-point source pollution of fresh-water lakes in the biophysical setting of east-central Wisconsin.
Collaboration with USDA-ARS scientists to develop remote, real-time, site-specific irrigation systems; precision conservation systems for dryland wheat production in the highly erosive soils; site-specific systems for pest and disease management in potato-based cropping systems; and, to quantify carbon sequestration in agricultural soils throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Contact Information
Francis J. Pierce, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Precision Agricultural Systems

Washington State University
Irrigated Agriculture Research & Extension Center
24106 N. Bunn Road
Prosser, WA 99350-8694

Phone: 509-786-9212
Email: fjpierce@wsu.edu

Health and Life Sciences

Fran Pierce

Dr. Fran Pierce is the Director of the Center for Precision Agricultural Systems (CPAS) and a professor in the Departments of Crop and Soil Sciences and Biological Systems Engineering at Washington State University. He received his Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Minnesota in 1984. Prior to his arrival at WSU in September 2000, he was a professor of soil science at Michigan State University. He research efforts on precision agriculture have been nationally recognized, and in 1993, he organized the North Central Regional Research Committee on Site-Specific Management, which meets annually with scientists across the U.S. and Canada. He organized and edited a book The State of Site-Specific Management for Agriculture, and co-authored an invited review article for Advances in Agronomy on aspects of precision agriculture. Currently he is leading an effort to produce a series of books for ESRI on the topic of applications of GIS for agriculture.

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