DiSTAP showcases precision agriculture research at Food@CREATE Seminar

The Food@CREATE Seminar held on 11 February brought together experts from Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) entities and partners, as well as other organisations, to examine how science and technology can support Singapore’s evolving food security strategy. The discussions highlighted research translation and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in strengthening resilience across the agri-food ecosystem.

Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research Technology (SMART)’s Disruptive & Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision (DiSTAP) interdisciplinary research group played an active role in the seminar, contributing research perspectives across presentations, panel discussions and a poster session.

Prof Giovanni Volpe, Principal Investigator of DiSTAP, introduces DiSTAP’s research thrusts at the Food@CREATE Seminar (Photo: SMART DiSTAP)

Representing DiSTAP, Prof Giovanni Volpe, Principal Investigator-Computational Thrust, introduced DiSTAP’s research thrusts, which involve developing novel analytical tools for precision agriculture to bio-inspired materials for plant engineering and computational modelling systems for AI-driven, data-centric agriculture.

The programme featured research talks by DiSTAP fellows that demonstrated the translational potential of emerging technologies in agriculture and food systems.

Dr Raju Cheerlavancha, Research Scientist, DiSTAP, sharing insights from DiSTAP’s research at the Food@CREATE Seminar (Photo: SMART DiSTAP)

Dr Ji‑Yan Wu, Research Engineer, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory & DiSTAP,  shared his work on monitoring nutrient deficiencies in plants using Leaf RGB images, highlighting how image‑based analytics can enable earlier and more scalable detection of plant health conditions. This was followed by a presentation from Dr Raju Cheerlavancha, Research Scientist, DiSTAP, who shared advances in silk microneedle technology for monitoring stress‑related plant hormones, alongside technologies aimed at extending food shelf life.

Prof Giovanni Volpe, Principal Investigator of DiSTAP, joins experts from across the CREATE ecosystem during the panel discussion at the Food@CREATE Seminar (Photo: SMART DiSTAP)

Prof Volpe, alongside experts from CREATE entities, academic institutions and industry partners, participated in a panel discussion which explored Singapore’s food security strategy and its long-term feasibility, the realities of research translation and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in strengthening resilience across the agri‑food ecosystem.

In addition, DiSTAP showcased five research posters during the poster session, highlighting the aims of its ongoing research projects to advance plant science and food systems. Collectively, these efforts seek to develop new tools and technologies that improve understanding of plant growth and resilience, support the development of nutrient-rich crops and enable more efficient, sustainable farming.

Through its participation at the Food@CREATE Seminar, DiSTAP contributed to ongoing conversations on how emerging technologies can be translated into practical solutions that revolutionise how food is produced to meet the demands of a growing population in an increasingly resource-constrained world.