Zhenong Jin

Zhenong Jin
Adjunct Professor
[email protected]
+1 612 624 6243
109 BioAgEng Building

1390 Eckles Ave
St. Paul, MN 55108
United States

Jin's Lab: Digital Agriculture Group
Education

Ph.D. – Purdue University, 2016
B.S. – Peking University, 2011

Areas of Interest

Mapping agriculture features using high-resolution satellite imagery, forecasting crop yields, integrating crop models with remote sensing for precision nitrogen management, impacts of climate change on agroecosystem, digital and precision agriculture.

Research

Zhenong Jin’s research integrates remote sensing, computational modeling, and machine learning to address agricultural and environmental sustainability under a changing climate. Before joining UMN, he received Postdoc training at Stanford University and was the Lead Crop Scientist at AtlasAI, where he directed product development of high-resolution maps of crop types and yield in multiple African countries.

Current research focuses are:

  • Remote sensing and deep learning for agroecosystem management
  • Process-based modeling and physics-guided machine learning in agroecosystem systems
  • Field-Level quantification of SOC and GHG Emission for large-scale applications
  • Climate change impacts and adaptation
  • ARPA-E SMARTFARM: The “System of Systems” Solutions for Commercial Field-Level Quantification of Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrous Oxide Emission for Scalable Applications (SYMFONI)

Select Publications

Yang Q, Liu L, Zhou J, Rogers M, Jin Z# (2024). Predicting the growth trajectory and yield of greenhouse strawberries based on knowledge-guided computer vision. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 220, 108911. [link]

Liu L, Zhou W, Guan K#, Peng B, Xu S, Tang J, Zhu Q, Till J, Jia X, Jiang C, Wang S, Qin Z, Kong H, Grant R, Mezbahuddin S, Kumar V, Jin Z#. (2024). Knowledge-Guided Machine Learning can improve C cycle quantification in agroecosystems. Nature Communications, 15(1), 357 [link]

Zhou J, Yang Q, Liu L, Kang Y, JIa X, Chen M, Ghosh R, Xu S, Jiang C, Guan K, Kumar V, Jin Z#. (2023). A deep transfer learning framework for mapping high spatiotemporal resolution LAI. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 206, 30-48. [link]

Yang Q, Liu L, Zhou J, Ghosh R, Peng B, Guan K, Tang J, Zhou W, Kumar V, Jin Z#. (2023). A flexible and efficient knowledge-guided machine learning data assimilation (KGML-DA) framework for agroecosystem prediction in the US Midwest. Remote Sensing of Environment, 299, 113880. [link]

Yin L, Ghosh R, Lin C, Hale D, Weigl C, Obarowski J, … & Jin Z#. (2023). Mapping smallholder cashew plantations to inform sustainable tree crop expansion in Benin. Remote Sensing of Environment, 295, 113695. [link]

Liu L, Xu S, Tang J, Guan K, Griffis TJ, Erickson MD, Frie AL, Jia X, Kim T, Miller LT, Peng B, Wu S, Yang Y, Zhou W, Kumar V, Jin Z# (2022) KGML-ag: A Modeling Framework of Knowledge- Guided Machine Learning to Simulate Agroecosystems: A Case Study of Estimating N2O Emission using Data from Mesocosm Experiments. Geoscientific Model Development, 15, 2839–2858

Lin C, Zhong L, Song X, Dong J, Lobell DB, Jin Z# (2022) Early- and in-season crop type mapping without current-year ground truth: Generating labels from historical information via a topology-based approach. Remote Sensing of Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2022.112994

Zhu P, Kim T, Jin Z#, Lin C, Wang X, Ciais P, Mueller ND, Lin C, AghaKouchak A, Huang J, Mulla D, Makowski D (Accepted) The critical benefits of snowpack insulation and snowmelt for winter wheat productivity. Nature Climate Change. http://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01327-3

Wang C, Wang X#, Jin Z, Müller C, Pugh TAM, Chen A, Wang T, Huang L, Zhang Y, Li L, Piao S (2021) Occurrence of crop pests and diseases has largely increased in China since 1970. Nature Food. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00428-0 [link]

Kim T, Jin Z#, Smith T, Liu L, Yang Y, Yang Y, Peng B, Phillips K, Guan K, Hunter L, Zhou W (2021) A metamodeling approach to identifying nitrogen loss hotspots and mitigation potential in the US Corn Belt. Environmental Research Letters, 16, 075008

Lin C, Jin Z, Mulla D, Ghosh R, Guan K, Kumar V, Cai Y (2021) Towards large-scale mapping of tree crops with high-resolution satellite imagery and deep learning algorithms: a case study of olive orchards in Morocco. Remote Sensing, 13, 1740. doi.org/10.3390/rs13091740

Benami E*, Jin Z*, Carter M, Lobell DB, Kenduiywo B, Ghosh A, Hijmans R (2021) Uniting remote sensing, crop modelling and economics for agricultural risk management. Nature Review Earth & Environment, 2, 140-159. (*joint-lead authors)

Lv Z, Li G, Jin Z, Benediktsson JA, Foody GM (2020) Iterative training sample expansion to increase and balance the accuracy of land classification from VHR Imagery. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 59, 139-150.

Jin Z, Azzari G, You C, Di Tommaso S, Burke M, David B. Lobell (2019) Smallholder maize area and yield mapping at national scales with Google Earth Engine. Remote Sensing of Environment, 228, 115-128.

Jin Z, Archontoulis SV, Lobell DB (2019) Heterogeneous benefit of variable rate nitrogen technology over the Midwestern US: an assessment based on satellite imagery and crop modeling. Field Crops Research, 240, 12-22.

Leakey ADB, Ferguson J, Pignon CP, Wu A, Jin Z, Hammer GL, Lobell DB (2019) Water Use Efficiency – a key constraint and opportunity for improvement of future plant productivity. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 70, 781-808.