AIFARMS: Artificial intelligence for future agricultural resilience, management, and sustainability

Abstract

The AIFARMS Artificial Intelligence for Future Agricultural Resilience, Management, and Sustainability national AI institute brings together over 40 world-class AI and agriculture researchers, with the common mission to develop foundational advances in AI and use them to ensure that future agriculture is environmentally friendly, sustainable, affordable, and accessible to diverse farming communities. Since its establishment in 2020, AIFARMS has advanced the state of the art in autonomous farming, cover crop planting, machine learning for improved outcomes from remote sensing, dynamic estimation of yield loss from weeds, and livestock management. The institute has prioritized the creation and utilization of high-quality, openly available data sets for advancing foundational AI and tackling agricultural challenges. AIFARMS leverages a close partnership between UIUC and Tuskegee University to build programming for a skilled and diverse next-generation workforce in digital agriculture. We are expanding the reach of AIFARMS outside of the current partners to collaborate with national AI institutions and international partners.