Precision Agriculture ~ Dr. Hemendra Kumar
Dr. Hemendra Kumar is Precision Agriculture Specialist at the University of Maryland Extension in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of University of Maryland College Park. Hemendra is establishing a Precision Agricultural Lab (PAL) at CMREC-Upper Marlboro Facility of at the University of Maryland. Before joining the University of Maryland, Hemendra was a postdoctoral scholar with The Ohio State University and USDA ARS Application Technology Research Unit (ATRU). Hemendra holds an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Engineering. After undergraduate degree, Hemendra competed his first MS degree in Hydrology from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) focusing water management using data and data-driven statistical approaches. Hemendra worked as a researcher in Germany on various projects and continue working on projects with collaboration. Hemendra holds a PhD majoring in Biosystems Engineering and minoring in Statistics. During his PhD, Hemendra developed advanced irrigation management methods for optimizing irrigation timing and thresholds using the data collected from farmers’ fields and helped them with determining the right time and right rate of irrigation. Hemendra developed the method on optimizing variable rate irrigation scheduling based on management zones in the fields delineated using crop yield, soil, and field elevations. Hemendra also worked on developing the criterion for water withdrawal for irrigation in the agricultural watershed in Alabama. Hemendra has been working with different agricultural technologies, including control drainage structures, drones, irrigation, soil moisture sensors, remote-sensing, modeling, and drone image processing. Hemendra is an FAA certified drone pilot.
Research and Extension interests of Precision Agriculture Lab (PAL)
Precision Water Management and Smart Agricultural Technologies
Precision Agriculture, Climate-Smart Irrigation Management, Soil Physics, Soil Moisture, Optimization, Agricultural Water Management, Digital Agriculture, Hydrology, Water Quality, Surface and Subsurface Hydrologic Modeling, Statistics, Groundwater.
Tools and instruments
Soil moisture sensors
LAI Ceptometer LP-80
Current projects
Develop the database of soil hydraulic properties for precision irrigation management in Maryland.
Quantifying actual nutrient load reduction in drainage structures. Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology. (2024-2026)
Precision Horticulture using Unpiloted Aerial Vehicles as part of an Integrated Plant Management Approach for Ornamental Nurseries. NIFA. (2024-2025)
Drought risk reduction through automated drainage water management. Nationwide AgTech. (2023-2024)
Students
Undergraduate Graduate
Ananth Sriram Shivam Sehgal
Shreeya Venkatesh Babu Abubakar Siddiq Palli
Farmer/Industry Partnerships
PAL is motivated to support and help farmers throughout the State of Maryland with diverse
agricultural problems. If you are a farmer or industry representative and want to participate in the
on-farm research or want to test equipment, please feel free to contact Dr. Hemendra Kumar.
Opportunities for Students
PAL is always looking for motivated students to work on innovative research projects related to
precision agriculture aspects. Please contact Dr. Hemendra Kumar for more information.
Contact
Hemendra Kumar, Ph.D.
Precision Ag Specialist
Central Maryland Research and Education Center
Agriculture & Food Systems
University of Maryland Extension
2005 Largo Road Upper Marlboro, MD 20774-8508
Affiliate Faculty
Department of Environmental Science and Technology
Email: hemendra@umd.edu
Phone: (301) 226-7405
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