December 2022 - 11

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.
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
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.
VGN | DECEMBER 2022 | 11
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). VGN
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.
http://ruppseeds.com
December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2022
