A Growing Investment
Technology has always co-existed with agriculture, but, over the last few years, there has been a concerted cross-pollination. In 2020, the National Science Foundation launched its National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes, intended to boost AI research and workforce development. The effort now spans 25 institutions, with five higher education institutions tapped to focus on boosting the use of AI in agriculture. Each of the five universities received $20 million to spend over five years.
Those included Washington State University, which has a program focused on orchard crops such as cherries, apples and grapes.
“All five of the institutes are motivated with getting undergraduates excited,” said Jordan Jobe, who has managed the AgAID Institute, which seeks to use AI for workforce transformation, since it launched at WSU in 2021.
“It’s frankly the direction agriculture is heading across the U.S.,” she said. “There’s fewer workers and less water and less laborers, so we will need to find ways to address the changing landscape. And AI is part of that.”
