Swarup’s extensive experience spans over a decade in plant phenotyping and agronomic research, with expertise in leveraging advanced drone imaging technologies to tackle various agricultural challenges. At Saluna, he leads the Agronomic Management and Trait Characterization effort, conducting field experiments on diverse genetic resources of hemp. His ongoing mission is to advance the hemp industry, develop sustainable agronomic management practices, and establish hemp as a major crop within traditional crop rotations.

Swarup earned his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture and master’s in Entomology Swarup and joined AR Malik Seeds in Bangladesh as a Product Research Lead, where he conducted field research programs to characterize and identify climatically resilient hybrid vegetable varieties. In 2017 Swarup moved to the United States to earn a master’s degree from North Dakota State University. His research focused on phenotyping and screening chilling-tolerant forage sorghum genotypes for bioenergy feedstocks. He also contributed to research on integrating cover crops within the prevalent corn-soybean-wheat cropping systems.

He then moved on to Virginia Tech to pursue a PhD in industrial hemp research. Upon graduation, he joined as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the same institution. His research spanned the optimization of seeding rates and tillage management, timing of hemp grain harvest, nitrogen management strategies, and exploring the feed potential of hemp. Swarup also led multi-state hemp yield trials and developed drone-based predictive models to monitor plant health and predict grain maturity and yield.