The purpose of this course is to provide a set of practical applications and tools for developing, managing and analysing ‘Big Data’, to better deliver food security.

A secure, reliable and sustainable food production system will increasingly rely on advanced technologies, such as real-time field sensing, model data fusion and advanced forecasting. It will need to operate effectively within new and changing environmental constraints and so will need to consider and be represented within (eco) systems goods and services models to ensure food security that is both economic and environmentally sustainable. This course will introduce and develop core skills in data acquisition, data and information management, using numerical and statistical modelling approaches that form the basis of information driven sustainable agriculture. It will incorporate ground, aerial and space borne sensing and sensor techniques for predictive mapping within the context of modelling agricultural ecosystems goods and services.

At a glance

  • DurationFive days
  • LocationCranfield campus
  • Cost

    £1,400

What you will learn

On successful completion of this course you should be able to:

  • Critically evaluate the potential of sensor systems (remote/near etc.) to measure and monitor the agri-environment,
  • Manage, manipulate and interrogate large agri-environmental datasets,
  • Explain the inter-relationship between the ecology and agriculture and the ecosystem goods and services that agriculture within its landscape provides,
  • Develop systematic and creative problem solving skills, and demonstrate the ability to interpret and obtain meaningful outcomes,
  • Communicate conclusions effectively, including assumptions and methodologies, to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

Core content

  • Introduction to Information Rich Agricultural Systems.
  • Sensing and sensors in Agricultural Systems.
  • Spatial interactions of food production.
  • Data and Information Management.
  • Big data: what can the past tell us about the future?
  • Ecological Agriculture in the Digital Age.
  • Informatics- based decision making.

Accommodation options and prices

This is a non-residential course. If you would like to book accommodation on campus, please contact Mitchell Hall or Cranfield Management Development Centre directly. Further information regarding our accommodation on campus can be found here.

Alternatively you may wish to make your own arrangements at a nearby hotel.

Location and travel

Cranfield University is situated in Bedfordshire close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The University is located almost midway between the towns of Bedford and Milton Keynes and is conveniently situated between junctions 13 and 14 of the M1.

London Luton, Stansted and Heathrow airports are 30, 90 and 90 minutes respectively by car, offering superb connections to and from just about anywhere in the world. 

For further location and travel details

Location address

Cranfield University
College Road
Cranfield
Bedford
MK43 0AL

Read our Professional development (CPD) booking conditions.