When: June 4, 2026
Where: Olsen Brothers Ranches, Inc-managed sweet cherry block in Benton City, WA

Agenda

Welcome and Introduction (5 min) Leslie Vite & Dattatray Bhalekar

Orchard Health Management

• Station 1 (South end of neighboring row of sensor site). Sweet Cherry Management (35 min)
  • Introduction to Sweet Cherry Block, UFO system, and production challenges (Keith Oliver)
  • Crop load management and Blackpearl variety (Matthew Whiting)
  • Sweet cherry soil and nutrient management (Bernardita Sallato)
• Station 2 (At sensor site). Tools for Irrigation Management (35 min)
  • Tree-water status measurements (Leslie Vite)
  • Introduction to Smart Sweet Cherry Orchard Project (Leslie Vite and Matthew Whiting)
  • Grower adoption: Sensoring orchard blocks for irrigation decisions and management (Eli Garcia)

Innovative Technologies and Smart Decision Support Tools

• Station 3 (At Gateway). WSU Smart Farms and AgWeatherNet (25 min)
  • Introduction to AWN Smart Farms Platform (Lav Khot, Srikanth Gorthi, and Horacio Contreras)
  • Weather-guided decision support through AgWeatherNet (Sanjita Bhavirisetty, Lav Khot)
• Station 4 (Near Gateway area). Other Advancements (20 min)
  • Technologies on the Horizon (Dattatray Bhalekar)
  • Updates on WSU Sweet Cherry breeding program (Per McCord)

Event Map