Pivot Bio Interns 2022: The Eye In The Sky

Students from across the U.S. join Pivot Bio each summer to get hands-on experiences in a high-growth ag startup. As interns, they are valuable members of the Pivot Bio team and make lasting contributions on the company during their time here.

My name is Rahul Raman and I am a UAV Field Measurement Intern with the Data Science/Field Measurement team at Pivot Bio.

I come from the state Bihar in India. My hometown is located on the Ganges River, a trans-boundary river of Asia. As a PhD candidate majoring in Agronomy at Texas A&M University, I know that the presence of a river or any other water body close to agricultural land acts as a source of irrigation and supports soil nutrient uptake by plants. However, chemical nutrients in those areas get washed away due to rainfall and adversely affects the aquatic ecosystem. Excessive use of chemical nutrients also affects soil health, giving us the need for environment-friendly alternatives to these chemicals.

Currently, I am conducting Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) flights as part of Crockett Walter's team for quality data to support environment-friendly technology development and establishing some key protocols for product advancement. I am working remotely in four different Midwestern states. The fun part is meeting with different growers and stakeholders while in the fields and learning about their opinions related to modern agricultural technologies.

UAS have gained much attention of agriculturists in recent years due to their ability in scanning a large acreage in a short time and providing real-time quality data. It has the potential to accelerate product and technology development, and their commercialization could support growers and help in maintaining environmental sustainability.

Remote sensing tools such as UAS can optimize chemical inputs in the field, giving the growers maximum produce with less inputs. The Field Measurement Team at Pivot Bio has been using many different advanced tools and technologies focused towards minimizing chemical inputs in the field and supporting environmental sustainability. Their work towards strengthening the growers economically and creating a sustainable planet was why I wanted to work with them.

Along the way, I have learned customer preference plays an important role in determining what products or technologies would rule the market for the long-term. Interacting with growers and stakeholders can provide us an idea about their needs and we can advance our products accordingly. I look forward to gaining more experience with unmanned aerial technologies and learning about the different opinions in the field of our nation's growers.

This is the next in a series of stories and experiences from the 2022 class of Pivot Bio interns.