Advancing AI in Agriculture through Large-Scale Collaborative Research

Starting in 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has funded five National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes, in a close strategic partnership with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). These AI institutes share a vision to initiate and propel the research, development, and deployment of AI tools and technologies within various sectors of agriculture, as well as to prepare the next generation of an AI-ready workforce in agricultural sectors. In this article, we report on the various use-inspired and foundational AI problems that these five AI Institutes (or “AG-AI” institutes, for short) are tackling, providing a sampler of technical outcomes as well as some of their broader impact highlights, including education, extension, and workforce development initiatives and community building. Collectively, these AI institutes are laying a strong foundation to usher in a new AI era for agriculture. The advances reported represent clear examples of using AI for societal good and for tacking the global grand challenge problem of securing the future of our food production. The advances also underscore the importance of sustaining and bolstering the U.S. strategic national federal investment in the AI institutes program, which has established the U.S. as a world leader in an area of enormous geopolitical as well as commercial importance.