Learning Series #1: Advanced Remote Sensing Usage In Agriculture With Hadi Jaafar
Jun 05 2023
For the very first episode of the Berytech Beat Learning Series, Dr. Hadi Jaafar discusses the intersection between technology and agricultural practices through the fascinating concept of satellite imaging and precision farming.
Dr. Jaafar is an international expert in remote sensing technologies in agriculture. He is currently the Chair of the Department of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut where he serves as an Associate Professor of Irrigation and Water Management. At AUB, he founded AgHive, the research hub for smart irrigation and remote sensing, and geospatial technologies. With the help of a Google-funded research grant and a grant from IHE delft, he and his team designed and developed AgSAT, the world’s only free mobile smart irrigation application that yields irrigation runtimes and amounts using remote sensing and weather data anywhere on land. • Dr. Jaafar has led and is currently leading several international research projects in collaboration with many organizations such as NASA, USDA, IHE-Delft, Google, and PRIMA. He is currently a member of the Surface Biology & Geology Applications Working Group led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory – NASA at the California Institute of Technology, and a committee member of the Water and Development Partnership Program at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. He is also an international consultant for the World Bank, FAO, ESCWA, UNDP, and other organizations. Dr. Jaafar holds a Ph.D. in Irrigation Engineering from Utah State University (2003). His research focuses on remote sensing applications in Evapotranspiration, crop yields, and food security and his research work appears in journals like Remote Sensing of the Environment, Journal of Hydrology, Agricultural Water Management, Food Policy, Nature’s Scientific Data, Nature Sustainability, among many others.
The BerytechBeat Learning Series offers a collection of 15-minute learning videos featuring passionate experts from the Berytech Community. In these condensed videos, we dive into curated topics, including Agriculture, Food, Renewable Energy, and Clean Technology; providing rich and concise content on the latest trends, advancements, challenges, and opportunities in these sectors locally, regionally, and internationally.
This episode of the BerytechBeat Learning Series was produced under the Agrytech Accelerator Program. The Agrytech Accelerator Program was conceived to make sure Lebanon has the most competitive companies that are sourcing, solving, growing and transforming food, as well as feeding the world from Lebanon. The Agrytech Accelerator Program was launched by Berytech and funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lebanon to enable the Lebanese entrepreneurial ecosystem and stimulate innovation and startup creation in the agriculture, food, and clean technology sectors.
Berytech supports innovations across these sectors by offering startups the resources, knowledge, support, and funding necessary to scale their ideas and grow them to penetrate international markets.
