image: Montana State University assistant professor Anish Sapkota has earned a 2025 Emerging Science Award from the Western Society of Crop Science. Sapkota works with drones and remote sensing among other areas of precision agriculture. MSU photo by Marcus "Doc" Cravens
Credit: MSU photo by Marcus "Doc" Cravens
BOZEMAN – Emerging opportunities in the realm of precision agriculture are countless, examining earth, sky and everything in between. At Montana State University, faculty are delving into many of them with the goal of improving resources for the state’s agricultural producers.
Anish Sapkota is one of those faculty members, an assistant professor of precision agriculture in the College of Agriculture’s Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences. Precision agriculture involves the incorporation of the latest data and technology into agricultural production, and Sapkota’s breadth of research exploring precision management of water and fertilizer earned him the Western Society of Crop Science’s 2025 Emerging Scientist Award in June.
Sapkota, who is originally from Nepal, joined the faculty a year ago, but he also received his master’s degree from MSU in 2018. He then completed a doctorate at the University of California, Riverside and postdoctoral research at the University of California, Davis.
“I gained a diverse experience working in traditional agricultural systems and with new technologies, bringing those together to understand what’s happening below ground, near ground and above ground,” said Sapkota. “And then there comes this opportunity to be able to come here. I’m so excited to be back at Montana State.”
Sapkota’s research focuses on abiotic stressors, which are those that don’t come from living things such as pests or disease. Drought, heat and soil nutrients can present abiotic stress, he said, and precision agriculture presents a wealth of potential remedies. His work exploring stress in crops including wheat and alfalfa earned him this WSCS Emerging Scientist Award, presented to a young researcher who has made significant contributions to the scientific profession with particular impact in agricultural industries.
The more data researchers can collect from a field, the more precise management can become, Sapkota said, and with the amount of freely available data from satellites, drones and sensors, agricultural fields can be analyzed for everything from water to nutrient stress in different parts of the field. Then, producers can apply only what is needed at the right place and right time, whether that be water or fertilizer, exactly where it will have the most benefit. That practice, called variable rate application, allows farmers to save both money and products by not wasting them where they won’t be effective.
Sapkota is also collaborating with other MSU faculty and Montana growers to evaluate technology such as soil moisture sensors, drones and precision irrigation tool so that farmers can use the latest developments with confidence.
“Dr. Sapkota truly is an emerging outstanding scientist developing and applying new technologies to improve crop production efficiency in Montana. I am proud of his work and congratulate him on this well-deserving recognition,” said Sreekala Bajwa, MSU’s vice president for agriculture. “Dr. Sapkota’s research is a great example of how the new investments our state is making in the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station’s precision agriculture programs are paying off.”
MSU continues to develop research programs and coursework in precision agriculture. As part of that effort, Sapkota has graduate students and research assistants working alongside him. He said that any interested student can find a place to conduct precision agriculture research at MSU, with the work constantly expanding both in geographic region and in topics of interest.
The opportunities are endless, he said, and Montana is fertile ground for exploration. Helping producers to make their operations sustainable and productive causes beneficial ripple effects across the state and the industry.
“Montana is very diverse in terms of cropping systems and practices. We need to understand these differences to better manage agricultural needs and inputs,” he said. “Agriculture is a major industry in Montana, so if we can contribute to addressing problems in agriculture, it means we create lasting impact across the region.”