The AI for Agriculture Summit was held July 29–30, 2024 at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington, D.C.
Convening AI institutes whose scope intersects in the AI for agriculture arena, experts from academia, industry, NGOs, and government agencies converged to envision how AI can tackle critical global challenges in agriculture.
There were many highlights!
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar provided recorded remarks. USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and NSF staff attended and addressed the summit audience.
- David Corman, Program Director, NSF
- Simon Liu, Administrator, Agricultural Research Services (ARS), USDA
- Christopher Alvares, Chief Data Officer, USDA
- Greg Hager, Assistant Director, Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), NSF
- Jim Donlon, Program Director, NSF
Keynote addresses were provided by:
- Dionne Toombs, Associate Director for Programs, USDA-NIFA
“AI for Agriculture: Advancing the Vision” - Michael Littman, Division Director, Information and Intelligent Systems (CISE/IIS), NSF
“NSF’s Role in the Future of AI” - Janie Hipp, CEO/President, Native Agriculture Financial Services, longtime agricultural lawyer, and former General Counsel for USDA
“Selected Legal Issues in an Evolving Landscape” - Rachel Melnick, Division Director, Division of Global Climate Change,
USDA-NIFA
“Policy Levers for Climate and Environmental Justice for Agriculture”
Session panelists from both the public and private sectors discussed AI for agriculture:
- Saharah Moon Chapotin, Executive Director, Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR)
- Leif Fixen, North America Agriculture Strategy Manager, The Nature Conservancy
- Joe Cornelius, CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations
- Alton Thompson, Executive Director, Association of 1890 Research Directors
- Julian Reyes, Climate Adaptation Program Lead, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and former Assistant Director for Climate Services, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
- Walter Duflock, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Western Growers
- Erik Nicholson, Interim Executive Director, Semillero de Ideas
- Hendrik Hamann, Chief Science Officer for Climate and Sustainability, IBM Research
- Ranveer Chandra, Managing Director, Research for Industry, Microsoft
Summit Topics
- AI for Sensing/Perception
- AI for Agriculture Robotics
- AI for Crop Improvement
- AI for Decision-Making
- Data Ownership, Intellectual Property, and Labor Policy Considerations
- Environmental and Climate Policy
- Role of Public and Private Funding
Stay tuned for recordings from the summit!
Photos by Phong Duong/UC Davis, AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems (AIFS).
Summit White Paper
The goal of the summit is to develop a long-term technical vision and implementation strategy for leveraging agricultural AI advancements, starting with a white paper to share recommendations based on discussions held during the summit.
The white paper group (pictured below) met on July 31 to begin the organization and writing process for the white paper and to explore avenues for publication.
