WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University will host the Big Data, Safe Food Conference online on Oc. 12-15. The conference will explore the intersection of big data and food safety through conversations with experts from industry, government and academia.

Ariana Torres, assistant professor of horticulture and landscape architecture and agricultural economics, who is one of the conference organizers, said the event will explore how stakeholders can collaborate to make food safer.

“The main question the conference will focus on is how can as academia, industry and government entities collaborate to address and prevent foodborne diseases using data collected from farm to fork. Food has a long and complex supply chain, and we need to discuss how big data can influence food safety, along with who manages and shares these data points,” Torres said.

Sessions will focus on foodborne pathogen contamination, data science applications specific to the food industry, traceability of food products and translation of big data to consumer impacts. Andrew Kennedy, Office of Food Policy and Response at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will deliver the conference’s keynote speech.

Dennis Buckmaster, professor of agricultural and biological engineering and Dean’s Fellow for Digital Agriculture, said he looks forward to a meeting of the minds from many different sectors.

“Improved data flow, coupled with data analytics and artificial intelligence, has tremendous potential to improve food safety,” Buckmaster added. “We hope this conference helps attendees identify technologies and approaches in sensing and control that could nicely complement blockchain and traceability for both marketing and safety.”

Attendees at the Big Data, Safe Food conference will contribute to drafting a plan of action that combines scholarship, research and possible industry opportunities. A session at the end of each day will facilitate this.

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With global food demand set to double by the year 2050, it is important for farmers and agriculture professionals to have good data in order to improve productivity and feed a growing world population. That is part of the reason why the Ivy College of Business and the Seed Science Center are teaming up to study the digital agriculture ecosystem. The study is being spearheaded by Dr. Priyanka Jayashankar, an ISU Seed Science Center collaborator.

“The purpose of the study is to understand how diverse agricultural stakeholders form networks and innovate through the use of big data tools,” Jayashankar said. “We hope to understand how they manage their resources and form innovative business models through the use of big data tools.”

Momentum around data-driven farming is building thanks to the use of technology like drones, soil sensors, and livestock monitoring equipment to produce an enormous amount of priceless information. The end goal is to help agricultural businesses make better, more informed decisions, allowing them to tap into a range of advantages. It also helps farmers manage resources including seed, fertilizer, and pesticides, while increasing productivity.

“We believe our study will benefit ag practitioners and help them inform policy,” Jayashankar said.

Jayashankar is interested in connecting with farmers, agriculture technology providers, ag tech start-ups of all sizes, extension personnel, coop officials, bankers and financing agencies who have used big data tools in agriculture. Jayashankar and her collaborators plan to interview these people and could compensate them for their time investment, which would only be about an hour. Interviews can be done in person or through video-conference and are anonymous.

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