News and Announcements
Picture this: Massive photo collection could fuel AI innovations in crops
Artificial intelligence (AI) needs mountains of data to operate accurately and effectively, and scientists backed by USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) just dropped the Mt. Everest of all image collections to help further biodiversity research.
The massive new collection of images, called Arboretum, includes captions and detailed data of nearly 327,000 plant and animal species — includes 134.6 million expert-verified images. The next largest dataset contains just 10.2 million images.
By making this resource freely available to the public, the teams behind the project hope to stimulate the development of new AI tools that can assist with tasks like pest control, crop monitoring and environmental conservation.
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NIFA-Funded Scientists Spur Research in Artificial Intelligence with Release of Massive Dataset
To spur research in artificial intelligence (AI) for biodiversity research, a team of scientists funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has launched Arboretum, a massive new collection of images with rich text captions and metadata of nearly 327,000 plant and animal species.
The dataset, which is an order of magnitude beyond anything similar before it, includes 134.6 million expert-verified, captioned images curated from the iNaturalist citizen science platform. In comparison, the next largest dataset contains just 10.2 million images. By making this resource freely available to the public, the creators hope to stimulate the development of new AI tools that can assist with tasks like pest control, crop monitoring and environmental conservation.
This research is important because it can lead to the development of AI tools that help address critical global
challenges such as food security, ecosystem preservation and climate change mitigation,
said Chinmay Hedge,
associate professor at New York University Tandon. These directly impact average Americans in terms of better
food prices, public health and the overall quality of the environment.
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New institute aims to unlock the secrets of corn using artificial intelligence
Iowa State University researchers are growing two kinds of corn plants.
If you drive past the many fields near the university's campus in Ames, you can see row after row of the first. But the second exists in a location that hasn't been completely explored yet: cyberspace.
The researchers, part of the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, are using photos, sensor data and artificial
intelligence to create digital twins
of corn plants that, through analysis, can lead to a better
understanding of their real-life counterparts. They hope the resulting software and techniques will lead to
better management, improved breeding, and ultimately, smarter crops.
We need to use lots of real-time, high-resolution data to make decisions,
Patrick Schnable, an
agronomy professor and director of Iowa State's Plant Sciences Institute, told Agri-Pulse. Just collecting
data for data's sake is not something that production ag wants. But data which is then linked to statistical
models or other kinds of mathematical models that advise farmers on what to do has a lot of value.
Artificial intelligence next step in the future of Ag decision making
Three universities in the Corn Belt are part of an initiative that uses artificial intelligence to ramp up crop yields, create new seed varieties and allow producers to be more profitable.
James Schnable, an associate professor with the
University of Nebraska, says the technology models crop conditions
under different circumstances that change over several decades. In both cases, the challenge we face is
that we cannot test every possible combination of different varieties of crops grown in different parts
of the state or different parts of the country with different growing practices.
The AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture also includes Iowa State and the University of Missouri as part of a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation and USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Read MoreUSDA-NIFA and NSF Invest $220M in Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a $220 million investment in 11 new NSF-led Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes. USDA-NIFA and other agencies and organizations have partnered with NSF to pursue transformational advances in a range of economic sectors and science and engineering fields - from food system security to next-generation edge networks.
The new investment builds on the first round of seven Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes funded in 2020, totaling $140 million last year.
Read MoreNSF Partnerships Expand National AI Research Institutes to 40 States
The U.S. National Science Foundation announced the establishment of 11 new NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes, building on the first round of seven institutes funded in 2020. The combined investment of $220 million expands the reach of these institutes to include a total of 40 states and the District of Columbia.
The institutes are focused on AI-based technologies that will bring about a range of advances: helping older adults
lead more independent lives and improving the quality of their care; transforming AI into a more accessible
plug-and-play
technology; creating solutions to improve agriculture and food supply chains;
enhancing adult online learning by introducing AI as a foundational element; and supporting underrepresented
students in elementary to post-doctoral STEM education to improve equity and representation in AI research.
$20 Million Federal Grant Launches AI Institute for Better Crops, Agricultural Production
The latest artificial intelligence tools will allow researchers to develop digital twins of individual crop plants and entire farm fields, helping plant breeders improve crop varieties and farmers boost production.
The researchers behind a new artificial intelligence research institute say their work can accelerate the productivity and sustainability of agriculture at a time when the world’s population is increasing, cropland is decreasing and the climate is changing.
The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
National Institute of Food and Agriculture are supporting the researchers'
idea with a five-year, $20 million grant to establish an AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture (AIIRA – eye-rah
)
based at Iowa State University. The institute is one of 11 AI institutes announced today.
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Husker Researcher Part of Multi-University Effort to Improve Ag Decision-Making
The use of digital twins,
virtual copies of physical objects and operations, is gaining steam across
a wide range of industries. Updated constantly with real-time data, these virtual mirrors allow engineers to
keep an eye on and predict traffic flow, retailers to optimize supply chains and railway operators to spot wear
and tear on tracks. Researchers are even working toward digital twins of the human heart, which would let doctors
diagnose, treat and monitor patients from afar.
Until now, the technology had not been widely employed in agriculture, even as the world races to secure a sustainable food supply for a population on track to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. Today, the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced a five-year, $20 million grant to establish the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, or AIIRA. It's part of a $200 million federal effort to develop artificial intelligence hubs that address a variety of national needs.
Read MoreCyVerse Receives $1.3M to Provide Cyberinfrastructure and Training for New NSF Artificial Intelligence Institute
The University of Arizona will take part in a $20 million institute that aims to transform agriculture through artificial intelligence.
The Artificial Intelligence Institute for Resilient Agriculture, led by Iowa State University and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will focus on innovative AI-driven methods for agriculture, promote the study of cyber-agricultural systems, and support education, workforce development and community engagement.
With $1.3 million from USDA-NIFA, CyVerse – headquartered at the University of Arizona BIO5 Institute - will provide the institute with expertise in cyberinfrastructure, along with education and engagement opportunities for Native Nations, farmers and community stakeholders to address how technological advances in AI can answer agricultural needs.
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Mason to Participate in New Five-Year $20 Million Grant
The proliferation of technology, in particular emerging platforms and services that deploy sensors and artificial intelligence (AI), creates opportunities for improving society.
The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced a five-year,
$20 million grant to establish an AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture (AIIRA – eye-rah
) based at Iowa State University.
The institute is one of 11 new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes that NSF has established in 2021
with a total investment of $220 million. George Mason University professor
Aditya Johri will serve as a member of the
institute's education and outreach team.
AIIRA aims to transform agriculture by creating a new AI-driven framework for modeling plants at various agronomically relevant scales. The researchers will accomplish this by introducing AI-driven digital twins that fuse diverse data with siloed domain knowledge. They will deploy these twins across agricultural applications that directly impact the USDA Science Blueprint for crop improvement and production.
Read MoreTandon Researcher Joins Major Collaboration Aimed at Using AI Models to Improve Agriculture
Chinmay Hegde, professor of computer science and engineering and electrical and computer engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering is part of a multi-institutional collaboration to pursue foundational advances in artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the resiliency of the nation’s agricultural ecosystem.
The program, AIIRA: AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture, is a national Research Institute supported by a $20M, five-year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation. It is led by Iowa State University, and includes researchers at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Arizona, George Mason University, and the University of Nebraska, along with several industry and federal partners.
Driving these advances is the concept of biophysics-aware AI-driven digital twins that are capable of assimilating sensor data along with agronomic knowledge to build accurate models of agricultural phenomena across scales, from individual plants to plots/fields.
Read MoreMU Plays Crucial Role in New NSF Artificial Intelligence Institute
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced the establishment of the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture (AIIRA), one of 11 new NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes that will work to advance AI technologies and their associated benefits to society. The AIIRA will be led by Iowa State University (ISU) and feature collaboration across eight institutions, including the University of Missouri.
While the 11 AI Institutes will cover a wide range of AI technology and applications, the AIIRA
will focus on a simulation technology that can create digital twins
of real-world crops
and farms, an approach that would provide specific, detailed information for better-informed
crop management, technological development and agricultural policies. Using sensors to
send real-time data about weather, soil composition and other factors to the digital twin,
researchers plan to create a system that can accurately predict the outcome of a variety
of what-if
scenarios.
