MSU’s Agricultural Autonomy Institute hosts AI conference
The conference furthers the mission of the institute to make Mississippi the "Silicon Valley of Agricultural Autonomy".
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY (WCBI) – The vision for Mississippi State University’s Agricultural Autonomy Institute is to establish Mississippi as the Silicon Valley of Agricultural Autonomy.
One pioneer of that vision is Alex Thomasson, the institute’s director, who says when he first came to MSU he saw a huge opportunity.
To merge engineering technology with agriculture to develop something new.
“Which is autonomous systems for agriculture that we really need to feed the world’s population as it continues to grow,” Thomasson said. ”
Those autonomous systems use artificial intelligence for a variety of agricultural applications.
From powering essential USDA research to operating 400-pound spray drones, the development opportunities are endless.
A big part of that development requires networking to create collaborative relationships around research.
Which is why the institute is hosting its fourth annual AI in Agriculture Conference.
Alex Thomasson, the Agricultural Autonomy Institute director and MSU Agricultural and Biological Engineering department head, said it’s important to collaborate on research, to make the US a leader in this technology.
“We don’t move very fast and we don’t learn very much if we’re not listening to one another,” Thomasson said. “So it is important for us to talk to people coming from other places, particularly in the US. We want the United States to be a leader in this technology. And so, while we want to be first, we do want to explain to others what we’re doing.”
David Clifford a keynote speaker, and AI AgTech consultant, said this work is as important as it is complex.
“The sense that you’re contributing to something that’s really important to humanity and the potential for agriculture as a solution to climate change and as a solution to population growth is just really important for me,” Clifford said.
The exponential growth of AI in agriculture is exciting to Clifford.
“Bigger, faster, more,” Clifford said. “Who knows what’s going to come next? A lot of the AI that’s being developed at the moment is a solution looking for a problem to solve. So what I’m really excited about is the types of problems people are going to use it to solve in agriculture. And the types of business models they’re going to build around that as well.”
MSU’s Agricultural Autonomy Institute was the first US based interdisciplinary research center focused on AI technologies in agriculture when it was established in 2023.
