Bob Recker has a complicated business challenge and Iowa State capstone students are helping him solve it, bit by bit.
Recker owns Cedar Valley Innovation (CVI) in Waterloo, which works with farmers to create planting configurations for maximum profitability and optimal soil and water quality. He travels to fields in a specially outfitted trailer, which works like a mobile laboratory when he evaluates the site and presents options to clients.
His goal is to create a portable data modeling system that would download and analyze online information for the field, including topography, weather history, and soil properties. The data would create a computer model to show soil loss for the field, depending on different weather scenarios presented to the model. The model could then be adjusted to other various farming practices, such as reduced tillage, wider rows, cover crops, water flow patterns, and buffer strips.
Data could then be further used to generate a graphic map, presented in the trailer to clients. The map could be altered for the farmer to show “what if” scenarios if different farming practices were used, given various weather conditions.
Since 2014, Recker used 10 capstone projects, coordinated by CIRAS with students from the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. Unlike most capstone projects, the teams working with Recker to build on the work of the previous teams, moving CVI slowly but surely closer to its computer modeling goal.
“Many Iowa State engineering students must complete a capstone project spanning one or two semesters before graduation that demonstrates their ability to apply knowledge to a real-world problem, and CIRAS works with several dozen companies each year to connect capstone students with companies,” says CIRAS project manager Jake Behrens.
Recker said he enjoys mentoring up-and-coming professionals. They benefit, and his company does, too. “I’m able to bring new young talent in to solve a problem that I might not otherwise have the time or skills to solve.”
For more information, contact Jake Behrens at jbehrens@iastate.edu or 515-815-5003.