December 2022 - 15

Ready to talk to the InnoGators?
The University of Florida's Institute
of Food and Agricultural Sciences
wants to put AI to use to improve all of
American agriculture. If you are a grower,
entrepreneur, investor, business or other entity interested in finding out how
you can partner with our new AI center, our research team or our students,
contact Senior Vice President Scott Angle at 352-392-1971 or jangle@ufl.edu.
Jack Rechcigl (from left), director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence in
Agriculture at the University of Florida, J. Scott Angle, administrative leader of
UF/IFAS, and Nathan Boyd, associate director of the UF Gulf Coast Research and
Education Center and professor of horticulture and weed science.
technology was out of the reach of all
but the biggest producers. AI, though,
can fit the size of your phone and the
size of your wallet if it's done right.
AI is a Swiss Army knife of
technology. UF/IFAS has developed
a phone app that uses AI to identify
nutrient deficiency and disease
symptoms on citrus leaves. Our plant
breeders are sifting through millions
more candidates for the perfect potato,
tomato or berry than they could without
AI. They're even designing " smart "
packaging that will tell you which fruit
you need to move first. If you can afford
a smartphone, seeds and something to
ship your produce in, AI applications
could be well within your reach sooner
than later.
Ampatzidis exemplifies the
entrepreneurial thinking that's forming
around AI at UF. At the university that
invented Gatorade, commercialization
of innovation is serious business. It's
how we get our discovery into the
hands of those who can benefit from it
- farmers, ag companies, land managers
and others.
Ampatzidis, in part through what
he learned exploring the Gardiniers'
groves, created the Agroview aerial
" It used to be that
game-changing
technology was out of the
reach of all but the biggest
producers. AI, though, can
fit the size of your phone
and the size of your wallet
if it's done right. "
− J. Scott Angle,
Senior Vice President,
UF/IFAS
data collection technology that is
at the center of a new company
he started with entrepreneur Matt
Donovan, Agriculture Intelligence.
Earlier this year, a UF/IFAS startup
called Rapid Genomics was sold
to a multinational corporation
seeking to bolster its position in the
agrigenomics market.
An animating idea behind the Center
for Applied AI in ag is to create more
of these commercial success stories.
Whether it's early access to technology,
hosting corporate meetings and
networking events or even helping find
local office space for entrepreneurs,
investors, startups and ag companies, UF/
IFAS wants to partner with the private
sector in the land-grant tradition.
An AI advisory board with several
corporate leaders gave us real-world
feedback on what they heard at a twoday
AI summit we recently hosted and
identified what they see as the most
promising areas for development of
the technology.
UF/IFAS has also whetted faculty
members' interest in AI-driven
projects with a mini-grant program
that attracted nearly two dozen teams
of applicants. Funded projects include
using AI to predict flavor preferences,
analyze animal behavior, predict
strawberry yield, improve plant
breeding and more.
UF/IFAS's ambition is to improve
agriculture nationwide. You can
help. Connect with us so we can help
you identify opportunities to get in
on the ground floor of the coming
transformation of agriculture, or maybe
inspire us to ask new questions about
AI can help sustain U.S. agriculture.
J. Scott Angle is the University
of Florida's senior vice president for
Agriculture and Natural Resources and
leader of the UF Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS).FGN
FGN | DECEMBER 2022 | 15
http://willowdrive.com https://ifas.ufl.edu/
December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2022
