By Blake Jackson
Cornell University has received a portion of a $2 million planning grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to launch AI4Ag, a national testbed for artificial intelligence in agriculture.
The initiative will establish an “AI-ready living lab” at the Cornell Agricultural Systems Testbed and Demonstration Site (CAST), part of the Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture (CIDA).
The facility, dubbed the Farm of the Future, will provide researchers, students, and industry partners a platform to develop and safely test AI innovations in large-scale, real-world farming conditions.
“AI-driven innovations have the potential to address major challenges, including reduced farm profitability, labor shortages, animal disease, pest management, food safety, and weather variability,” said Julio Giordano, professor of dairy cattle biology and management in the department of animal science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), and director and principal investigator at CAST who also serves as principal investigator for the grant.
“By making it easier to test, refine and share new ideas and AI tools, our goal is for AI4Ag to demonstrate the potential of AI to transform agriculture and contribute to a more sustainable and resilient US food system.”
The first phase will focus on strategic planning and governance, including executive leadership, testbed management, a research steering committee, and an advisory board. Key priorities include developing a multidisciplinary user community, strengthening CAST infrastructure, integrating AI-ready data, and establishing operational frameworks for external partner access.
AI4Ag is coordinated through CIDA, which unites expertise in engineering, computing, life sciences, veterinary medicine, and social sciences. Giordano will work alongside CIDA co-directors Renata Ivanek, Hakim Weatherspoon, and Fengqi You, all serving as co-principal investigators, to bring interdisciplinary approaches to the project.
“Projects like this would not be possible if we didn’t have the cross-collaboration perspectives, ideas and skill sets that CIDA brings together,” Giordano said.
CAST, supported by USDA, advances data-driven solutions for climate-smart agriculture. Its three commercial-scale farms serve as hubs for research, extension, and education in field crops and dairy production.
Embedding AI4Ag within CAST will accelerate the development and deployment of AI tools, helping farms nationwide become more efficient, resilient, and sustainable.
“By embedding AI4Ag within CAST, Cornell is uniquely positioned to accelerate the design, evaluation and deployment of AI solutions that can make farms more efficient, resilient and sustainable,” Giordano said.
Photo Credit: cornell-university
Categories: New York, Education, Livestock