Danielle Yidan Tang, University of Melbourne, studies bean yields

University of Melbourne PhD student and remote sensing specialist Danielle Yidan Tang is using sensors, cameras and satellite images to monitor lentil and faba bean crops from flowering to harvest at Agriculture Victoria's Horsham SmartFarm.

She said it created a pre-harvest spatial map of grain quality variation across grower's paddocks.

"These maps give us a real-time indication of grain quality traits such as colour, grain size and protein and illustrate which sections of crops are harvest ready," she said.

"The technologies could also be used in a glasshouse environment to optimise breeding research."

Agriculture Victoria senior researchers Cassandra Walker and Glenn Fitzgerald are supervising Ms Tang's work.

Dr Cassandra Walker said Ms Tang's research showed promising commercial benefits for the grain industry, despite it being in its early stages.

"Growers could harvest the best quality to achieve the highest prices; a win-win for marketers, traders and manufacturers," she said.

"Agriculture Victoria's Horsham SmartFarm is situated in the heart of the grain growing region and is an excellent multi-disciplinary learning environment for agriculture PhD students like Danielle."

The SmartFarm facility aimed to improve the grains industry's productivity and biosecurity outcomes with innovation.

It hosts digital technology, research facilities and a 600-hectare research farm to support studies and activities including crop agronomy and protection, soil sciences, nutrient management and more.

Ms Tang uses artificial intelligence, satellite imagery and sensor cameras to see greater yields for pulse growers.

She recently returned from a four-week chemometrics study trip to Denmark, where she presented her PhD project to chemometric experts and researchers.

Ms Tang said meeting researchers worldwide and working on her knowledge was incredibly valuable.

"I am thankful to the University of Copenhagen for their additional support and upskilling me to develop mathematical algorithms that help predict grain quality in-field," she said.