Summer 2022 - 32

INDUSTRY NEWS
OMRI tabs Orsi Dezsi as CEO
The Organic Materials Review Institute has appointed
Orsi Dezsi as executive director/chief executive officer.
Dezsi will be responsible for leading OMRI's dedicated
team of professionals while growing the value of the
organization for its members, donors, sponsors, partners
and other stakeholders. She will lead efforts to expand the
organization's programs while growing and strengthening
its impact on the organic movement.
Dezsi brings extensive experience in product
certification, food safety and industry and regulatory
partnerships. Previously, she served as Director of
Product Certification in the Food Safety Division at
NSF International, where she served nearly 20 years in
progressively responsible roles.
" Orsi's success in leading strategic growth, building
industry and regulatory partnerships, and mentoring staff
teams make her the perfect choice to lead OMRI into the
future, " said Matt Landi, OMRI board chair.
Dezsi was scheduled to take over June 27, the OMRI
announced through a news release.
OMRI is a nonprofit organization providing organic
certifiers, growers, manufacturers and suppliers an
independent review of products intended for use in
certified organic production, handling and processing.
Founded in 1997, OMRI's mission is to support the
growth and trust of the global organic community through
expert, independent and transparent verification of input
materials and through education and technical assistance.
Solar-powered weeding robot in works at
University of Idaho
A pair of researchers from University of Idaho's College
of Agricultural and Life Sciences are partnering with a
Washington company to develop a solar-powered robot
that will rove autonomously through farm fields and
eradicate weeds.
Jae Ryu, an associate professor in the Department of Soil
and Water Systems, and Jerry Neufeld, Extension crops
educator, Canyon County, are collecting data in Idaho farm
fields to help the robot differentiate between weeds and
two of the state's major crops - sugar beets and onions.
The company behind the project, Aigen, based in
Kirkland, Washington, hopes to have a prototype of the
robot finished by late summer. It will be adapted for use in
other crops later.
The robot will have wheels and will be roughly the size
of a shopping cart, rolling between rows in farm fields
before crop canopies close. A small arm will grasp and pull
little weeds; the robot will emit an electric shock to fry the
larger weeds.
32 SUMMER 2022
" They're trying to make it as small as possible and light
as possible so one person could lift it up and put it in the
back of a pickup, " Neufeld said.
Ryu said the robots could provide an answer to Idaho
farmers who have been unable to find enough field
workers for simple tasks such as weeding. He believes
new technology will play an increasingly important role in
addressing the farm labor shortage.
" Maybe over the next few decades we're going to see a
lot of this kind of autonomous vehicle everywhere, " Ryu
said. " Technology is improving so fast these days. We have
to accept this technology to make our life easier. "
Ryu said the robot could also fill a niche by providing
weed control on organic farms.
" This is also very beneficial for environmental
ecosystems, " Ryu said. " Farmers are going to reduce their
chemical applications. "
Since April, Ryu and Neufeld have gone out into sugar
beet and onion fields every five days, weather providing,
to take photos of weeds. They manually push a cart fitted
with an accelerometer to take two photographs of the
ground per second while the cart is in motion. Aigen
uploads the photos from their SD cards to build the
database the robot will use to tell the difference between
weeds and crops.
" I'm also thinking to develop an education and training
module to help farmers operate the ground robot safely
and wisely in the farm field, " Ryu said.
The researchers are uncertain how much each robot unit
will cost to build or how much ground an individual robot
will be capable of covering in a set amount of time.
OFRF grants to study pulse crops,
yellow-margined leaf beetle
Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), in
partnership with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture
(FFAR), announced two more 2021-22 Organic Research
grants. Grants will go to Travis Parker of the University
of California, Davis and Christiana Huss of the University
of Georgia.
These awards are the third and fourth projects of six
in OFRF's current 2021-22 organic research grant cycle,
which funds research on organic production systems and
the dissemination of these research results to organic
farmers and agricultural research communities.
* Parker will focus research on pulse crops, such as
cowpea and tepary bean, which show exceptional
resistance to heat, drought and low soil fertility and
make them particularly valuable under the context
of climate change. This project will evaluate high
market value varieties of common beans, cowpeas
Summer 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Summer 2022
