The Lead with ASABE

South Dakota State University celebrated its centennial of their Agriculture & Biosystems Engineering program in 2025. In this episode, ABE Chair Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan discusses how the program has evolved over the last 100 years.

In this episode, Brian Strobel, P.E., Global Market Advisor, JYGA Technologies, Knoxville, Tenn., discusses how technology and AI are changing the livestock industry, including how labor is managed, how animal welfare is measured, how this technology is opening the door to bringing new employees into the agriculture and livestock industries who may not have a background in those areas.

In this episode, Christina Sebald, Chair, Agricultural Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Germany, discusses innovative strategies for upskilling the next generation in agricultural engineering, focused on modernizing agricultural education. 

In this episode, Kingsly Ambrose, Ph. D. and Professor, Agricultural & Biological Engineering, Purdue University, shares his ag engineering journey and his unique experiences in academia. Ambrose shares what has inspired him during his career and how ASABE has played a role in advancing his career ambitions.

We've all heard of electronic waste, but what is it really, and how do we sustainably recover metals from e-waste? In this episode, Jian Shi, Professor of Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering, University of Kentucky, discusses why e-waste is a problem, what traditional metal extraction techniques are available, what kind of metals can be extracted from e-waste and more.

In this episode, Manoj Karkee, Professor, Department of Biological & Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, discusses his research on using automated drones to deter pest birds in orchard and vineyard settings. Birds are very smart creatures and eventually become immune to other pest deterrent methods, so automated drones are an additional tool for orchard and vineyard owners to employ...

In this episode, learn more about coffee production in Puerto Rico from Francisco Monroig-Saltar, Director, Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, University of Puerto Rico. Monroig discusses coffee harvesting methods and labor shortages in cultivating the world's favorite beverage. 

In this episode, we hear from Delta Dirt Distillery founder and CEO, Harvey Williams, as he shares his journey in agriculture engineering and building a successfuly family distilling business in Arkansas. Williams shares how his ag engineering expertise was essential in setting up the distillery, how he navigates family business challenges, how the family uses sweet potatoes and corn to make award...

In this episode, Maury Salz, ASABE Foundation President, and Jim Ethington, CEO, Arable Labs, discuss a recent project where big data meets regenerative processes for a more sustainable future. Google led a major conservation project and got ASABE members involved to help engineer a solution to save water. Arable Labs was a key player in helping bring the plan to fruition. 

In this episode, Micah Lewis, Ph. D., Research Agricultural Engineer, USDA Agricultural Research Service, discusses his research into using a distributed network of microwave moisture sensors to monitor in-shell peanut kernel moisture content in real time during drying. You'll learn why peanuts stay in shell during post-harvest processing, the limitations of determining kernel moisture content dur...

In this episode, Felix Oguche, a Ph. D. student in biological engineering at the University of Missouri, discusses his research on the ergonomic evaluation of scoop shovels and pitchfork usage and the impact on women’s body mechanics in agriculture. Women use these tools every day to do agricultural tasks, but it takes a toll on their bodies because those tools were designed to be used by men.  Og...

This episode features Ketan Shende, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Florida. Shende discusses wirelessly transferring data from autonomous equipment in real-time and the challenges that task poses. Learn more about the wireless data communication system his team devised and tested it in the field. 

In this episode, we hear from Klein Ileleji, Professor and Extension Engineer, Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University; founder, CEO, and CTO of JUA Technologies International; and co-chair of the ASABE Alliance for Modernizing African Agrifood Systems (AMAA). Ileleji talks about the many challenges facing smallholder farmers in Africa and how the Dehytray portable...

Quenton Schneider, PE, Project Engineer, Clapsaddle-Garber Associates, shares his story of how he became involved in ASABE and the impact it's had on his career in agricultural engineering. Today, he serves as Chair of YPC and is an up and coming leader in the ag engineering field--but how did he get to where he is today? Find out in this podcast. 

In this podcast, we explore the challenging process of creating a new collegiate level program for precision agriculture, as explained by Utah State University professor Matt Yost, Ph. D. Yost discusses why interest in precision agriculture is rapidly increasing, the collaboration involved between faculty from different colleges within the university, and other nuances in the process.

In this episode, Walter Eshenaur shares about a unique project that was supported by the ASABE Giving Back Fund to bring running water to a school in Malawi. He elaborates on the importance of ag engineering to the project and the many factors that went into making the project a success.

In this special episode, we're talking with ASABE's newly minted Executive Director, Cedric Calhoun. You'll hear about his background and where he sees ASABE going in the future.

This interview is part 2 of the discussion with Xin Zhang, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University, on her team's research into building a robotic blackberry harvester. 

In this episode, Xin Zhang, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University, discusses a perception system that her team has created for robotic blackberry harvesting. Artificial intelligence plays a role in the perception system and it also has a mobile platform.

In this episode, Jerome Trudel-Brais, a doctoral engineering student at ETS Montreal, discusses his findings after doing an evaluation of 47 different studies related to controlled environment agriculture facilities, including why energy use efficiency is necessary in CEA facilities, why indoor plant environments have such a high demand for energy, metrics for tracking energy use efficiency, and m...

In this episode, James Kim, Ph. D., Research Agricultural Engineer with USDA and adjunct professor in agricultural and biological engineering at North Dakota State University, based in Fargo, N.D., discusses how satellite remote sensing provides farmers with a method for monitoring crops on a large scale. He discusses the prediction about the number of satellites, why the increasing availablility...

In this episode, we take a deep dive into friction coefficient and how it affects mechanical interactions of milled corn stover particles during biofuel production. Using Bayesian statistics, a Penn State University Ph. D. graduate assistant was able to change the preprocess to influence how corn stover is used.

In this episode, Investment Advisor Tom Hodgson, Lutz Financial, discusses retirement and insurance questions that ag engineers--and anyone--can and should discuss with their loved ones. There's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to planning for your future.

This episode explores millet and its role in human diets over thousands of years, how the grain is being used in today's menus, and the nutritional benefits of adding millet to your diet. We're talking with Roselle Barretto, doctoral candidate, Agricultural & Biological Engineering, Kansas State University, who authored an article in ASABE's Resource magazine about this topic.

In this episode, we talk with Taisha Venort, Ph. D., a research data scientist with Corteva about agriculture in Africa, how technology is revolutionizing the industry in Africa, entrepreneurship in African agriculture, and how young people will lead African agriculture forward. This podcast is based on the YPC Career Panel that was held during the 2023 Alliance for Modernizing African Agri-Food S...