Web Production Coordinator Mark Takata and IT Supervisor Chinh Lam won third place in the Apps for Ag hackathon. Each team had 48 hours to develop their idea, culminating with a presentation in front of judges and a live audience at the California State Fair. Takata and Lam developed a prototype for a geo and temporal database and platform for tracking Asian citrus psyllid and other invasive pests. They learned about the extensive monitoring effort using yellow sticky traps to keep track of the location and numbers of Asian citrus psyllid. Their system would enable traps to be placed out faster by using mobile phone cameras and GPS to identify traps and keep track of the data associated with the trap.
Apps for Ag hackathon was developed to bring together the software development and commercial farming worlds, encouraging the joint development of technological solutions to real-world agricultural challenges.