University of Florida Shows Advances in AI Farming

The UF Southwest Research and Education Center in Immokalee, part of the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, is merging the powers of farming and AI. Researchers at the center are utilizing the latest technologies like drones and advanced AI systems to revolutionize the way we grow our food.

Dr. Yiannis Ampatzidis, a lead researcher at the center who specializes in Precision Agricultural Engineering, is focused on the mechanization and automation of specialty crop production. He’s built AI-based software for collecting UAV data, created technologies for automatic mapping of insect movements and created software that scans for plant disease. Ampatzidis explained how everyday AI tech like facial recognition is applied to research on crop growth.

“From there, you see how we can detect, using AI in cameras, people or other objects. We use the same tech in agriculture to detect the plants and collect information from every plant”.

This research will serve to improve efficiency, help out small farmers throughout the state, and reduce the agricultural industry’s negative impact on the state’s natural resources.

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