Take a look at our research projects.

• Soil Health and Environmental Impacts of Saltwater Intrusion In Agricultural Areas and Mitigation Strategies

  PI Bayabil was recently awarded nearly a half a million dollars in grants by USDA/NIFA to investigate the multifaceted impacts of soil salinity due to saltwater intrusion on soil hydrology, physical, chemical, biological properties, and greenhouse emission.

• Estimating Actual Evapotranspiration by Integrating Data From Ground Measurements, UAVs, and Modeling

  Principal Investigator Bayabil was recently awarded $375k in grants by USDA/NIFA to develop measurement techniques that allow quantification of actual evapotranspiration rates from sweet corn and green beans fields through the integration of data from ground measurements, UAVs, and modeling. A multidisciplinary team of scientists from UF and USGS will be involved in this project.

• Monitoring Crop Water Stress Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Precision Water Management

  Principal Investigator Bayabil was recently awarded the Early Career Scientist Seed Grant Award of $50k from UF/IFAS. The overarching goal of this project is to develop new irrigation scheduling methodologies based on crop water stress levels measured using drones equipped with thermal and multispectral sensors. Specific objectives of the project are:

  1. Quantifying effects of irrigation scheduling methods and variable rate irrigation on water use efficiency of Sweet corn
  2. Modeling Sweet corn yield and yield components different irrigation scheduling and variable-rate irrigation
  3. Evaluating the applicability of UAVs for irrigation scheduling based on crop water stress level