Cornell summit showcases AI innovation in agriculture

The Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture (CIDA) convened its annual workshop on Oct. 21, 2025, at the Statler Hotel on the Cornell University campus, bringing together faculty and students from across the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science and Cornell Engineering, as well as industry partners and stakeholders.

The day-long gathering featured project updates, networking, and a keynote exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping food systems. The event showcased CIDA's work to fuse data, technology and discipline-spanning research to tackle global challenges in sustainable agriculture and production.

"The goal of the summit is to bring together experts, external and internal, on veterinary medicine, computer science, law, and ethics, and initiate development of an ecosystem of benchmarks designed to foster AI-driven innovation," said Dr. Renata Ivanek, co-director of CIDA and professor of epidemiology at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. "Today is about creating space where conversations between agriculture, animal health, and technology can actually happen as part of the same ecosystem."

CIDA's mission is to build a dynamic community of researchers, industry partners, farmers, and students who collaborate to create efficient and sustainable food systems.

The event drew audiences to explore the latest advances in AI, sustainable agriculture, and climate-resilient farming, anchored by a keynote from Aidan Connolly on the transformative role of AI in food systems. Connolly described a potential but realistic future where "AI [is] running and even designing farms…trees, plants, and livestock, replicating systems of the past, but informed by AI." His talk envisioned an "AI revolution" that reshapes production, supply chains, and resource use to strengthen global food security.

The summit also spotlighted Cornell initiatives advancing AI and digital agriculture, including the Cornell Agricultural Systems Testbed (CAST) and upcoming AI4AG program, which integrate data from field and livestock systems to make AI tools "farm-ready."

"The AI4AG initiative is about connecting people and data - building the infrastructure that allows agricultural systems to benefit from the latest advances in machine learning," said Julio Giordano, co-director of CIDA and professor of animal science in CALS. "With CAST, we're putting those technologies to work in the field, testing innovations that can directly improve farm productivity and sustainability."

Further initiatives discussed included CROPPS, which is enabling plants to signal their nutritional needs through programmable sensors, while NASA ACRES applies remote sensing and hyperspectral imaging to improve soil and crop modeling. The NSF-funded AI LEAF institute develops decision-support tools for climate-smart farming, and Grow-NY continues to catalyze ag-tech startups using AI for precision management and sustainability.

CIDA Research Innovation Fund presentations highlighted cutting-edge projects at the intersection of agriculture, technology, and sustainability. The fund provides seed support for collaborative research that seeks to advance digital agriculture through novel and cutting-edge projects, giving researchers the opportunity to work together across disciplines to develop and consider unique and creative solutions through an exchange of knowledge and expertise.

Professor Jeff Tester (Cornell Engineering) presented on "Integrated System Modeling for Valorizing Agricultural and Food Waste in a Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy with Energy and Nutrient Recovery," exploring innovative approaches to repurpose agricultural byproducts. Research Professor Ed Mabaya (CALS) discussed "Scaling up Digital Agriculture in Africa: Role of Enabling Environments and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," focusing on strategies to expand digital agriculture on the continent. Associate Professor Parminder Basran (College of Veterinary Medicine) shared insights from "Delay-Sensitive Edge Intelligence for Digital Agriculture," which investigates the role of advanced computing in optimizing real-time agricultural decision-making.

"Through the Research Innovation Fund, we're supporting bold ideas that cross traditional boundaries - from computer science to plant science and beyond," said Fengqi You, co-director of CIDA and Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Energy Systems Engineering. "Our seed funds are intended to provide a first step to fostering future collaborations that enable researchers to develop new research and compete for additional sources of funding."

The summit concluded with the Industry Thought Summit featuring short talks from keynote speaker Connolly and Cornell Engineering's David Erickson, S.C. Thomas Sze Director of the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, highlighting their experiences working across academic and industry partnerships. A moderated discussion followed the talks, providing opportunities for attendees to ask questions and exchange ideas.

"What makes CIDA unique is its ecosystem, we're not working in isolation," said Hakim Weatherspoon, co-director of CIDA and professor of computer science in Cornell Bowers. "By bringing together Cornell centers and industry leaders through events like this, we're accelerating innovation that has both local and global impact."

For more information on CIDA, visit digitalagriculture.cornell.edu.

Stephen D'Angelo is the communications manager for biological systems at Cornell Research and Innovation.