December 2022 - 14

UF AI center to push boundaries of ag research
By J. Scott Angle
University of Florida
The scientist called the grower with
a proposition: Let me fly a drone over
your grove and you'll be able to see how
many trees you have, and even the size of
individual canopies.
Alex Gardinier, director of business
development for Gardinier Florida Citrus,
accepted. He recalls that when he received
such easy-to-read metrics and maps from
the flight data, he saw something else -
the future.
It's a future fueled by artificial
intelligence. Dr. Yiannis Ampatzidis is
among those at the University of Florida's
Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences (UF/IFAS) that's putting AI to
use on Florida farms today, in this case
by synthesizing millions of images into
instantly actionable information.
AI will create a fourth agricultural
revolution, achieving huge gains in farm
productivity the way the introduction
of tractors, synthetic fertilizers and
genetics did in previous eras. The speed
and success of that revolution depends
on how well land-grant university
innovators like Ampatzidis, of the UF/
IFAS Department of Agricultural and
Biological Engineering, work with South
Florida growers like Gardinier.
The groundwork for the revolution has
been laid by more than a century of UF/
IFAS establishing credibility through its
citrus science. Working with a UF/IFAS
faculty member comes with assurance
that growers' data will be protected.
Gardinier took up Ampatzidis on his offer
because he trusts him and trusts his landgrant
university.
As the old saying goes, the Gardiniers
trusted, but verified. They did their own
ground count, and Ampatzidis turned
out to be 98% accurate. The technology
has the potential to save growers time
and money, strengthen claims for relief in
hurricane-prone areas like South Florida
and drive decisions down to the level of
the individual tree.
The UF/IFAS push to apply AI to
agriculture includes hiring 15 faculty
members with expertise in AI to work
on everything from plant breeding to
irrigation to packaging. It has infused AI
throughout its curriculum to produce
a generation of AI-literate agriculture
professionals. It recently announced its
intent to build a hub for its efforts to
put the benefits of AI into the hands of
farmers nationwide.
The Center for Applied AI in
Agriculture, just south of Tampa, will
bring together our expertise from around
Florida to concentrate our vision for
technology-driven productivity increases.
The 19,000-square-foot facility will be
anchored by a workshop for developing
machine prototypes. Plans call for
research and office space as well.
The center will be a place to help our
organization of nearly 1,000 agriculture
and natural resource faculty members
think, tinker, pitch to investors and
companies and invite you in to see and
touch and critique.
The Hillsborough County Board
of County Commissioners, the local
government for the UF/IFAS research
center outside of Tampa, has already
made a $1.5 million commitment. UF/
IFAS is raising private funds. Royalties
from its tops-in-the-nation plant breeding
program will be reinvested in the
center. And UF/IFAS is seeking a state
investment to help fund construction.
Dr. Nathan Boyd of the UF/IFAS Gulf
Coast Research and Education Center
(GCREC), recently recognized by the
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association as
its researcher of the year
for his work on weed management
and Extension programs, and GCREC
Director Jack Rechcigl have been the
lead visionaries for the center. They
have shared their plans widely with
stakeholders across Florida and have
extended their outreach nationally to find
partners to accelerate the delivery of AI
technology to American farms.
This center needs to happen now.
Kevin Wang and Dana Choi at the University of Florida's Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, release a drone. The assistant
professors of agriculture and biological engineering are recent hires with agtech backgrounds. Photos: University of Florida
Global spending on smart technologies
such as AI and machine learning
directed toward agriculture is projected
to triple in the next three years. That
represents great interest in scientific
advancement and an opportunity for
us to employ the land-grant-universityindustry-government
partnership model
to make the impact we seek.
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December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2022