UF highlights impact of tech on agriculture in Senate Ag Committee

In Tuesday’s Senate Committee on Agriculture meeting, Dr. Kati Migliaccio from the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences shared applications of technology and intensive research across Florida’s agriculture industry.

“Farming is complicated. There are hundreds of decisions a grower has to make to result in a crop,” Migliaccio said. “Technology brings a huge time savings for farmers – and provides better data than we had before.”

Migliaccio is professor and Chair of the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department at UF | IFAS, where they focus on research that can be taught to students and shared with farmers through extension offices in every county throughout the state.

“We absolutely have to get the technology out there to our farmers,” said Senator Jay Collins, chair of the committee. “Ultimately, we have to create the farms of tomorrow today. We have to be leaning forward if we’re going to save agriculture and continue to grow it.”

Migliaccio briefed the committee on the Florida Stakeholder Engagement Program, colloquially known as STEP Florida. STEP is a program designed to examine and analyze data sets of certain crops, allowing farmers to make more efficient and better-informed decisions.

STEP promotes peer-to-peer interaction across the industry while working to develop best management practices, increasing profit across the agricultural spectrum. Farmers can share insights from their personal experiences with other farmers, government representatives, and other stakeholders found across the state.

“There’s no question that technology and innovation can help Florida’s farmers automate difficult processes and solve complex challenges. It’s exciting to see the research from the university’s laboratories applied on farms, in groves and among cattle ranches,” said Rob Winterton, NetChoice’s director of public affairs. “We’re hopeful that Florida’s lawmakers continue to advance policies that foster innovation.”

Migliaccio also provided an update on research efforts to address the influx of fungus and disease throughout the state. The recently launched Strawberry and Blueberry Advisory Systems were designed to alert growers when weather conditions make their land particularly prone to the development of anthracnose fruit rot. These preventive measures ensure that growers can tailor efforts toward crops less likely to contract disease, helping them save valuable time and money.

Similarly, Two-Spotted Mite Detection is another affordable program that saves farmers the headache of detecting insects manually. Instead, artificial intelligence technologies have produced a new algorithm that allows farmers to detect the presence and density of pests in their fields.

Other technologies like automated water irrigation systems and AgroView, a commercially available artificial intelligence system that connects drone data to maps utilized widely by growers are similar tools designed to support the hardworking professionals found in Florida.

These are just a few examples of the technologies that are becoming more accessible and more affordable for farmers to implement, many of which were born in UF|IFAS laboratories.

UF is home to the world’s fastest AI supercomputer in higher education. Guided by a strong foundation in ethics, UF is working to “create a diversified, technology-driven, high-wage economy in Florida and strengthening the country’s competitiveness in a global market.”