Brenda Ortiz - profile information
More information about Brenda Ortiz
- Professor and Extension Specialist (Precision Agriculture)
- Department of Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences
More bio information
Education
Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural EngineeringUniversity of Georgia2008
B.S. in Agricultural EngineeringUniversity Nacional de Colombia-University del Valle, Cali1997
Professional Experience
- Auburn University, Auburn, AL – October 2019 Professor –Precision Agriculture Specialist, Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Department.
- Auburn University, Auburn, AL, November 2008 – September 2019 Associate professor –Precision Agriculture Specialist, Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Department.
- The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, August 2004-October 2008 Research Assistant, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering.
- Colombian Sugar Cane Research Center – Centro de Investigación de la Caña de Azúcar de Colombia, CENICAÑA, August 1997-August 2004 Research Assistant, Geographic Information System area.
Research
- Evaluation of site specific management practices with the use of precision agriculture technologies,
- Evaluation of precision agriculture technologies for variable rate application of inputs (e.g., water, nutrient, seed), on-farm demonstration of precision irrigation strategies and technologies
- Study and evaluation of technologies and methodologies to assess within-field soil, crop and yield variability,
- Study of the impact of weather and climate on agriculture especially corn and wheat crops,
- Identification of adaptation strategies to reduce climate-related risk in agriculture,
- Use of field studies and crop growth simulation modeling to evaluate different management strategies for improving grain production.
Extension Experience
Extension
- 2025 TAPS / Farmers Competition for Highest Profit and Input Use Efficiency on Corn Management – 2025 project report
- 2024 TAPS / Farmers Competition for Highest Profit and Input Use Efficiency on Corn Management
- Increasing Adoption of Climate- & Water-Smart Irrigation Practices Among Tennessee Valley Farmers in Alabama & Tennessee: Findings and Lessons Learned.
- Operation & Maintenance Problems of Center Pivot Irrigation.
- Center Pivot Irrigation Systems: Common Operating Problems.
- Maintaining Water Application Uniformity in Irrigation Systems.
- Installation of Soil Sensors for Irrigation Scheduling.
- Irrigation Scheduling Using Soil Water Tension Sensors.
- DigitalAG@Farms (pages 4 to 14).
Honors and Awards
- 2020 Rittenour Award for Excellence in Production Agriculture & Forestry Research from the Alabama Farmers Federation. Montgomery, Alabama
- 2019-2020 Visiting Scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of UN
- 2018 Invited speaker to XLVII Brazilian Congress of Agricultural Engineering – CONBEA
- 2018 Appointed to Adjunct faculty at Sao Paulo State University, Brazil
- 2015 Leader, Precision Agriculture Systems Community of the American Society of Agronomy
- 2018 Invited by the Sao Paulo State University in Brazil to be part of a group international and national faculty teaching the course: Advances in Peanut Production
- 2017 ASABE Educational Aids Blue Ribbon Award. Category: Publications, Comprehensive (33 or more pages). Award received for the iBook “Climate and Crops: Adapting Farming to a Variable Climate”
- 2017 Richard L. Guthrie Award for Achievement in International Agriculture. Auburn University College of Agriculture
- 2017 Dean’s Grantsmanship Award, Auburn University College of Agriculture and Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
- 2017 The Climate and Crops iBook was selected as an international finalist in two categories as Best Book of the Year during the 2017 iBooks Author Conference. The Climate and Crops iBook was finalist in the categories of: Best Book of the Year, Education (Science) and Best Book of the Year, Education (Overall)
- 2017 3rd Place graduate student poster competition to Franciele Morlin, visiting student from Brazil. 15th Annual Nitrogen Use Efficiency Meeting. Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- 2017 Invited by the Sao Paulo State University in Brazil to give three Precision Agriculture lectures with field practices and discuss research opportunities
- 2016 Visitor Scholar Fellowship from Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany. I was awarded with this fellowship to visit TUM, learn and discuss Precision Agriculture Research and give two lectures to MSc students from the Precision Agriculture program
- 2015 My Ph.D. student, Damianos Damianidis won the 2nd place during the graduate student oral presentation of the 2015 Southern Branch American Society of Agronomy meeting in Atlanta, Georgia
- 2014 NIFA Partnership Award received from USDA-NIFA. For outstanding leadership and innovation in climate extension, by engaging agricultural producers and helping the implement them management strategies to protect crops from weather extremes
- 2014 National winner of Achievement Award received from the National Association County Agricultural Agents
- 2014 National winner of Search for Excellence award – Remote Sensing & Precision Ag Category from the National Association County Agricultural Agents
- 2014 Alabama winner of Achievement Award received from the Alabama Association County Agricultural Agents
- 2014 Alabama winner of Search for Excellence award – Remote Sensing & Precision Ag Category from the Alabama Association County Agricultural Agents
- 2011 Dean’s Grantsmanship Award 2011 – College of Agriculture. Auburn University
Professional Affiliations
- American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) (2004-present)
- International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) (2018-present)
- American Society of Agronomy (ASA) (2009-present)
- Crop Science Society of America (2009-present)
