Ask any farmer what they wish they had more of, and most will say the same thing: time and insight. The weather changes without warning. Grass grows unevenly. Livestock eat faster than expected. Managing it all takes instinct, experience, and a bit of guesswork.
That guesswork is what Bernardo Candido wants to replace with precision. Candido, a research scientist at the University of Missouri precision agriculture research Division of Plant Science and Technology, is working on a tool called PastureCast, a pasture management system that helps farmers understand what their fields are telling them through precision agriculture technology.
Recently, Candido received the 2025 Taylor Geospatial Institute Planet Fellowship, a recognition that comes with financial support and access to high-resolution satellite imagery in farming from Planet, a company that specializes in turning space data into everyday insights. For Candido, this means more resources to make PastureCast smarter, faster, and more useful for the people who rely on it most.
“I’m deeply proud of this moment,” he said. “It’s a reminder that research can go far when it touches real lives. This is about helping farmers make choices that save time and protect the land through sustainable agriculture.”
From a Simple Idea to a Living Tool
The roots of PastureCast stretch back to another agricultural innovation born at the University of Missouri, PaddockTrac. That early innovation used ultrasonic sensors on ATVs to measure grass height and predict how much forage was available in a pasture using smart farming tools.
It started small, but it caught on. Over time, farmers in more than fifteen states tested it, proving that the right kind of technology could turn tedious fieldwork into something more accurate and less exhausting.
PastureCast takes that foundation and builds a whole ecosystem around it. It blends ground data from sensors with satellite imagery in farming and AI in agriculture to create an evolving picture of how healthy a pasture is. This is part of a larger movement showing how technology is transforming farming practices.
When Technology Meets Intuition
At its heart, PastureCast does what farmers have always done, observe. It just does it faster, using data instead of instinct alone.
Farmers log into a web interface, mark their fields, and upload any information they have from their ground sensors. Within minutes, the system processes that data, considers weather and soil conditions, and delivers a clear report: when to rotate herds, where overgrazing might be happening, or whether extra feed will be needed soon.
“They don’t have to understand the technical part,” Candido explained. “They just need to see what’s happening and make better choices. The technology should work quietly in the background while offering real-time insights for livestock and pasture health.”
The Bigger Picture
The fellowship gives Candido and his team the means to fine-tune the system, better AI models, smoother visuals, and more intuitive tools. But his mission goes beyond building software and digital farming solutions.
He talks about farmers the way some people talk about artists. “They understand the land deeply,” he said. “Our job is to give them better eyes, to help them see patterns they couldn’t before.”
That is what makes this project more than a tech story. It is a story about connection. Between science and soil. Between space imagery and the small details of daily farm life. Between innovation and the people who feed the world.
If Candido succeeds, he will have done more than develop a new tool. He will have changed the way we listen to the land itself through pasture management system, smart farming tools, and agricultural innovation.
