Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture

What Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture does

The Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) is a public-private research partnership between the University of Arizona and the agriculture industry, headquartered in Yuma, Arizona, and dedicated to applied research addressing arid-land crop production challenges in the lower Colorado River region. Its technical work is anchored by direct eddy covariance (ECV) measurement of crop evapotranspiration, EM38 electromagnetic soil salinity surveys, satellite remote sensing using Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2a/2b imagery, and growing degree day tracking, all validated against FAO-56 protocols. From these field datasets, YCEDA-affiliated researchers have produced proprietary tools including DesertAgWISE (an irrigation and soil salinity management web application), a Crop Coefficients tool providing FAO-56 Kc values and NDVI data by growth stage for nine major desert crops, a Growing Degree Day Calculator, and LincSys hydraulic simulation software for linear-move and center-pivot irrigation systems. The center also runs multi-year Fusarium wilt of lettuce trials, food safety/pathogen research through its One Health Laboratory, and the Yuma County Broadband Middle Mile Project supporting AgTech infrastructure.

YCEDA operates a non-commercial revenue model funded by tiered industry membership (Ag Visionary above $25,000, Ag Champion $25,000, Ag Leader $10,000, Ag Partner $2,000, Ag Young Leader $1,000) administered through the University of Arizona Foundation as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity. These investor contributions are leveraged to attract grant funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, NASA, USDA-ARS, the Dairy Research Institute via the Walton Family Foundation, and UA TRIF funds; YCEDA reports having leveraged over $7M in grant funding and over $140,000 in research seed awards. Its customer base spans seven Yuma County water management jurisdictions (YCWUA, YID, NGIDD, WMIDD, YMIDD, Unit B, BWD), commodity councils (Arizona Iceberg Lettuce Research Council, Arizona Grain Research and Promotion Council, Arizona Citrus Research Council), Western Growers Association, and individual grower cooperators, with distribution handled through the UA Cooperative Extension network, the desertagsolutions.org and desertagwise.org websites, annual reports, workshops, and field events.

Name

Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture

Legal name

Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of The University of Arizona

Website

https://desertagsolutions.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

YCEDA is a University of Arizona public-private partnership that conducts applied research and develops tools (DesertAgWISE, LincSys, crop coefficient datasets) to optimize irrigation, manage soil salinity, and combat crop disease for desert growers in the lower Colorado River region.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Research and Extension Services

NAICS

Vegetable and Melon Farming (1112)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYAFACACAF

Precision Irrigation & Water Optimization Services (Sensor-Based Scheduling, VRI Prescriptions)

Agriculture & Food Production/Agricultural Services (Custom Farming, Agronomy, Veterinary)/Precision Agriculture Services (Remote Sensing, Variable Rate, Farm Data Services)

SECONDARYAFABAMAH

Soil & Field Mapping Analytics (EC Mapping, Zone Delineation)

Agriculture & Food Production/Agricultural Inputs & Agrochemicals/Precision Agriculture Solutions (Sensors & Data Analytics)

SECONDARYAFACACAA

Remote Sensing & Crop Scouting Services (Satellite, Drone Imagery, In‑Field Sensing)

Agriculture & Food Production/Agricultural Services (Custom Farming, Agronomy, Veterinary)/Precision Agriculture Services (Remote Sensing, Variable Rate, Farm Data Services)

SECONDARYAFACAFAK

Drainage & Salinity Management Services (Tile, Leaching, Reclamation)

Agriculture & Food Production/Agricultural Services (Custom Farming, Agronomy, Veterinary)/Irrigation & Water Management Services (Design, Scheduling, Maintenance)

SECONDARYAFACACAE

Soil & Terrain Mapping Services (EC/EM Scanning, Topography, Zone Delineation)

Agriculture & Food Production/Agricultural Services (Custom Farming, Agronomy, Veterinary)/Precision Agriculture Services (Remote Sensing, Variable Rate, Farm Data Services)

SECONDARYAFAGALAG

Field Mapping, GIS & Digital Agronomy (Zoning, Prescription Maps, Yield Maps, Spatial Analytics)

Agriculture & Food Production/Crop Farming/Precision Agriculture Technology

SECONDARYAFACAKAA

Soil Testing & Nutrient Analysis Services

Agriculture & Food Production/Agricultural Services (Custom Farming, Agronomy, Veterinary)/Agricultural Testing & Diagnostics Services (Soil, Plant Tissue, Water)

Keywords

• Desert agriculture research
• Irrigation efficiency
• Crop evapotranspiration
• Soil salinity management
• Agricultural extension services

Headquarters

HQ city

Yuma

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Investor Funding / Industry Investment: YCEDA is investor-funded, with agriculture industry partners investing at tiered levels (Ag Visionary: above $25,000; Ag Champion: $25,000; Ag Leader: $10,000; Ag Partner: $2,000; Ag Young Leader: $1,000). Funds are accepted and administered through the University of Arizona Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. The center also leverages donations to attract grant funding.
2. Grant Funding: Donations and investor funds are leveraged to bring in grant funding from public agencies and organizations. Over $7M in grant funding has been leveraged through the center's activities, including contributions from the United States Bureau of Reclamation, USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, NASA, and other federal and state sources.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

YCEDA conducts applied agricultural research and develops decision-support tools for arid-land crop production in the Yuma region and lower Colorado River area. Its core offerings include the DesertAgWISE irrigation and soil salinity management application, the LincSys irrigation system hydraulic simulation software, an online Crop Coefficients tool with FAO-56 Kc values and growing degree day data for major desert crops, and a Growing Degree Day Calculator, all grounded in seven years of eddy covariance crop evapotranspiration measurements and nine years of Fusarium wilt of lettuce field trials.

Product overview

The Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) is a public-private partnership between the University of Arizona and the agriculture industry that conducts applied research and develops tools to address challenges in arid-land crop production. Its offerings are organized around research areas — notably increasing irrigation efficiency, disease management (Fusarium wilt of lettuce), food safety, and technology utilization. The core product is DesertAgWISE, an irrigation and soil salinity management web application that synthesizes multi-year crop evapotranspiration data, satellite imagery, and soil salinity measurements to help growers optimize irrigation. Supporting tools include a Crop Coefficients tool providing FAO-56 Kc values and GDD data by crop and growth stage, the Growing Degree Day Calculator for crop development tracking, and the LincSys desktop application for simulating linear-move and center-pivot irrigation system hydraulics. The center also maintains a multi-year research dataset spanning 2016–2023, offers a Small Grants Program for research funding, and operates the Yuma County Broadband Middle Mile Project supporting AgTech infrastructure. YCEDA's research programs include crop ET and salinity management, Fusarium wilt of lettuce trials, food safety/pathogen detection research, and the One Health Laboratory.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DesertAgWISE Web application that synthesizes multi-year crop evapotranspiration and salinity data to help growers optimize irrigation scheduling and soil salinity management across major desert crops, using crop coefficients, satellite imagery, and field data.
• Crop Coefficients Tool Online tool providing FAO-56 crop coefficients (Kc values), growing degree days, and NDVI data by growth stage for major desert crops including lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, wheat, cantaloupe, watermelon, celery, and durum wheat.
• Growing Degree Day Calculator Online calculator for computing growing degree days (GDD) used by growers and advisors to track crop development and schedule irrigation and other management activities.
• LincSys Downloadable computer program for simulating the hydraulics of linear-move and center-pivot irrigation systems, including a hydraulic simulation module (HydrSimLaterals.exe) and a graphical user interface (LincSys.exe), developed by University of Arizona researchers.

Quantifiable outcome

• In-season irrigation application efficiencies for Durum wheat production approach 90% in the Yuma area.
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered flagship / core, core and secondary.

• University of Arizonaflagship / coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFoundational partnership. YCEDA is a pioneering collaboration between the University of Arizona and the agriculture industry. The university provides scientific talent, infrastructure (Experiment Station, AZMET weather network), administrative support (UA Foundation 501(c)(3)), and extension reach. The center leverages the UA's AgExperiment Station, broadband test sites, and research computing resources.
• United States Bureau of ReclamationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUSBR provides funding contributions for crop coefficient development and irrigation scheduling research. YCEDA's direct ECV measurements of crop evapotranspiration are used by USBR to update crop coefficients and assist water managers in the lower Colorado River region following FAO-56 protocols.
• USDA-ARS Arid Land Agricultural Research CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey scientific collaborators including Dr. Andrew French, Dr. Clinton Williams, Dr. Douglas Hunsaker, and Dr. Elzbieta Wisniewski contribute to crop ET, salinity, and irrigation research. YCEDA's eddy covariance field sites are used in joint studies, and USDA-ARS provides co-authored publications and research outputs.
• USDA-ARS United States Salinity LaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDr. Ray Anderson at the USSL contributes to salinity research methodology and validation of EM38 survey data. The collaboration supports soil chemistry analysis including saturated paste extracts, ECe measurements, and ion chromatography for cation/anion quantification.
• NASA Jet Propulsion LaboratorysecondaryTechnology or IntegrationPartner in remote sensing and satellite imagery analysis for the project. NASA JPL contributes satellite data and expertise to support ET estimation and irrigation scheduling using satellite-derived vegetation indices.
• NASA Goddard Space Flight CentersecondaryTechnology or IntegrationNASA Goddard provides satellite imagery and remote sensing data for the project, supporting delineation of growth periods and irrigation scheduling using Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2a/2b data.
• Arizona Iceberg Lettuce Research CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommodity research council providing funding and industry priority direction for lettuce-related research including Fusarium wilt trials, irrigation efficiency, and crop coefficient development.
• Arizona Grain Research and Promotion CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommodity council funding Durum wheat research, including ETc measurements and salinity management studies. Jointly holds the 'Desert Durum' trademark with the California Wheat Commission.
• Arizona Citrus Research CouncilsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommodity research council providing funding for citrus-related research and industry collaboration.
• Western Growers AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor industry association representing fruit, vegetable, and nursery producers. Partner in technology adoption, regulatory engagement, and industry-wide research priority setting for desert agriculture.
• Yuma County Agriculture Water CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoalition of agricultural water users in Yuma County providing industry co-funding, field site access, and grower cooperation for water and salinity balance studies.
• Yuma Mesa Irrigation & Drainage DistrictcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIrrigation district providing field sites and water delivery infrastructure for ECV installations and salinity monitoring. One of seven water management jurisdictions where YCEDA established field sites for the 2016-2023 irrigation study.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR): UC ANR is the University of California's applied research and extension arm, operating under the same land-grant/public-private model as YCEDA. It is the most direct comparable in California for desert and specialty-crop irrigation research, including work in the Imperial Valley adjacent to YCEDA's Bard Water District sites.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Research: Texas A&M AgriLife Research is a state-wide public-private agricultural research enterprise covering irrigation, salinity and crop water use in arid regions of Texas. Comparable structure to YCEDA: university-hosted, industry-funded, with applied field research and extension delivery.
• USDA-ARS Arid Land Agricultural Research Center: The USDA-ARS Maricopa center is co-located in the Arizona desert and is already a YCEDA scientific collaborator (French, Williams, Hunsaker). It is a direct peer for arid-land irrigation, salinity and remote-sensing research.
• Colorado State University Agricultural Experiment Station: CSU AES operates a public-private, industry-funded research model addressing irrigation efficiency and salinity in the Colorado River Basin headwaters. Directly comparable to YCEDA's focus on arid-land water optimization and salinity management.
• New Mexico State University Agricultural Experiment Station: NMSU AES conducts irrigation, salinity and desert-crop research in southern New Mexico, sharing YCEDA's arid-region mandate and land-grant extension delivery model. It addresses many of the same crop and water management problems.

Broad incumbents

• UC Davis College of Agriculture: UC Davis is a much larger, broader agricultural research institution with significant desert and specialty-crop irrigation research. It overlaps with YCEDA in crop ET, salinity and irrigation scheduling but operates at significantly greater scale and scope.

Emerging players

• CropX: CropX is a venture-backed precision-irrigation and soil-sensing platform that delivers ET-based irrigation recommendations and salinity analytics. It is an emerging commercial alternative to YCEDA's public DesertAgWISE tool in the precision irrigation space.
• Tule Technologies: Tule provides direct crop water-use measurements and irrigation management for specialty crops including those grown in Yuma. Comparable to YCEDA's ECV-based ETc work but delivered as a commercial service rather than a public research program.
• Ceres Imaging: Ceres Imaging offers aerial remote sensing and crop stress analytics for agriculture, overlapping with YCEDA's satellite-derived NDVI and irrigation scheduling work. It represents a commercial counterpart to YCEDA's satellite-based ET estimation.

Others

• Western Growers Association: Western Growers is both a YCEDA partner and a sectoral peer: it represents fruit, vegetable and nursery producers across the same region YCEDA serves and invests in research and technology adoption that overlaps with YCEDA's mission.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/YCEDA_DesertAg
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCVvtveofK7-QxTvRtKiYYRw
• Facebookfacebook.com/YCEDA
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-university-of-arizona

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture