b'CONTENT FROM ASTAUsing Fungal Endophytes to manage environmentalAutomated Data Collection for Enhanced Crop stress to improve crop production. Phenotypes and Field Trial QCPresenting Company: JABB of the Carolinas Presenting Company: aerialPLOT, LLC Speaker: Ben Arends, Vice President of Marketing Speaker: Jeremiah Roeth, PhD, CEOBen grew up on a farm in Iowa and worked ag retail for over 7Jeremiah brings a multi-disciplinary background to approach years in various roles before completing his bachelors degree inchallenging problems in the agriculture industry. After grow-Biology from Iowa State University and Masters degree in fielding up on a small family farm in Ohio, Jeremiah obtained a crops entomology from NC State University. After completingBA in Chemistry, and went on to acquire a PhD in Cellular and his studies, he worked for AgBiTech as a Field DevelopmentMolecular Biology. After a postdoctoral appointment in cancer Representative for the Southeast for 1.5 years. There, he devel- biology, he joined a startup synthetic biology company to build a oped viral insecticides for various lepidopteran pests in rowhigh throughput process to design, build, and test complex DNA crops and specialty crops. In his current role as Vice President ofconstructs to enable R&D in the areas of Ag trait development, JABB of the Carolinas, he works to manufacture biological seedgene therapy, and industrial biologics. After the companys IPO, treatments using Beauveria bassiana as the active ingredient. Jeremiah returned to the farm in 2014 to co-manage Buckeye Ag Testing with his father and sister, where he oversaw contracted Description: The presentation will discuss how different fungalresearch trials in corn, soy, and wheat. While managing Buckeye endophytes (Beauveria, Trichoderma, Metarhizium) interactAg, he developed methods for practical integration of aerial data with the plant and the plant response to manage both abioticcapture to automate data in-season assessment of crop dynam-and biotic stresses in the environment. Moreover, I will discussics. In 2018, Jeremiah founded aerialPLOT, offering a robust how these fungal endophytes fit into a sustainable system thatcloud-based data management platform to standardize imagery fit each farmers farming practices. The presentation will includeanalytics and integrate data layers to better understand prod-peer reviewed scientific articles to support results. uct performance in the field. aerialPLOT currently engages with agronomists, product managers, consultants, distributors, and Why It Matters to the Seed Industry: As more research isgrowers to provide better data for R&D and commercialization in being done on biologicals, the industry is beginning to see themultiple agricultural systems in the US and abroad.value they bring. This is especially true for fungal endophytes that have numerous benefits and characteristics that we areDescription: Field research, whether through small-plot trials only beginning to understand, often having more benefits thanor grower-scale evaluations, is essential to inform how prod-synthetic chemistry. Furthermore, pest resistance to currentucts can be integrated in a holistic management program for chemistry and the end users desire to reduce reliance on syn- optimal crop production. The GxExM interactions that drive thetic chemistry, will drive the biological market. The seed indus- field outcomes are complicated, and every growing season try needs to understand how they work within the system andpresents a unique set of circumstances from which to learn. how we can utilize and deliver the technology to growers that fitGiven this complexity, systematic temporal measurement of each growers practices. crop responses and unique data integration tools are required to build a better understanding and to optimize models. Advances in standardized digital tools to extract insights from high-resolu-tion datasets will be presented.Why It Matters to the Seed Industry: Traditional methods for field data capture rely heavily on manual labor and subjec-tive assessments. These approaches are difficult to scale and are inefficient at measuring subtle and/or time-sensitive crop responses. The lack of visibility, high variability, and absence of reliable season-long metrics in field trials can leaded to extended development timelines and uncertainty in product placement for growers. Systematic digital phenotyping and data layer integration can provide insights and much needed solutions to these challenges.68/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2023'