Apr 23, 2021

May 10-11 set for Virtual Ag Tech Expo – The Future of Farming

Ag Tech Expo – The Future of Farming, is a virtual event to be held from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Southwest Florida Research and Education Center on May 10-11.

U.S. specialty crop producers compete in the global market place and they can no longer compete on the basis of cheap land or labor, they must compete on the basis of technology and innovation.

Looking to the future, the world will have to produce more food in the next 50 years than we have in the last ten thousand years since civilization began and farmers will have to accomplish this with fewer resources and less environmental impact Driven by innovation and new technology developed by the partnership between UF IFAS, agricultural producers and related industries, agriculture will continue to provide jobs and support economic well-being in Florida.

The developments in agricultural robotics, machine vision, ultra-precision farming; autonomous farming; artificial intelligence; machine vision, genomics and AI will drive a deep and far-reaching transformation of the way farming is carried out. These technologies coupled with AI are enabling a revolution which will eventually upend familiar norms in agrochemical supply, food safety, payroll and labor management, agricultural machine design, and in farming practices.

This development frontier has the wind in its sails, pushed by rapidly advancing and sustainable hardware and software technology trends, and pulled by structural and growing challenges and needs. In our assessment, these technology developments can no longer be dismissed as gimmicks or too futuristic. They are here to stay and will only grow in significance. Indeed, all players in the agricultural value chain will need to develop a strategy today to benefit from, or at least to safeguard against, this transformative trend.

The conference will feature visionary keynote speakers and concurrent seasons. See agenda below and attached.

Agenda

DAY 1 – Monday, May 10, 2021

Opening Remarks – J. SCOTT ANGLE, PH.D. , Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources , University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS)

Keynote Speaker – DR. RANVEER CHANDRA , Microsoft Azure FarmBeats AI, Edge and IoT for Agriculture

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Morning Sessions

Precision Agriculture / Sustainability (Monday am)

10:00 am Scott Berden /Miquel Clavijo, US Sugar – Leveraging IoT and Remote Sensing Technology at US Sugar.
10:30 am Louis DeMaso, Lipman Family Farms – Sustainability Case Study: Precision Agriculture for Maximum Resource-Use Efficiency.
11:00 am Dr. Sanjay Shukla, UF IFAS SWFREC – Streamlining growing environment for fresh produce with compact bed geometry system.
11:30 am Tony Mucciardi, Tree Radar – TRU GPR and IR imagery for root morphology maps.

UAV Session (Monday am)

10:00 am Nathan Stein, pix4d – A good map is the first step in digitizing your field.
10:30 am Dr. Spyros Fountas, AUA, Greece – The role of UAVs for crop yield estimation.
11:00 am Dr. Yiannis Ampatzidis, UF IFAS SWFREC – Agroview: AI-based technology for precision agriculture.
11:30 am Drew Baustian, Micasense – Image Classification, Irrigation Monitoring & More Using Multispectral & Thermal Imaging.

Genomics Session (Monday am)

10:00 am Dr. Tong Geon Lee, UF IFAS GCREC – CRISPR: A technical breakthrough for crop research.
10:30 am Dr. Samuel Hutton, UF IFAS GCREC – Applications of Marker Assisted Selection in the UF/IFAS Tomato Breeding Program.
11:00 am Dr. Vance Whitaker, UF IFAS GCREC -Genomic Prediction in Strawberry Breeding.
11:30 am Dr. Marcio Resende, UF IFAS Department of Horticulture – Genomics and phenomics applied to sweet corn breeding.

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Break and Technology Show – Virtual Trade Show

2:00 PM – 4:00 pm – Afternoon Sessions

Robotics Session (Monday pm)

2:00 pm Dr. Pal Johan From, Saga Robotics – Thorvald – and autonomous multipurpose platform for agriculture.
2:30 pm Bob Pitzer, HCR – Robotic strawberry harvesting.
3:00 pm Dr. Stavros Vougioukas, UCDavis – Human and ag-robot collaboration for fruit harvesting.
3:30 pm Dr. Manoj Karkee, WSU – Tree fruit harvesting: Accomplishments and challenges.

Protected Ag Session (Monday pm)

2:00 pm Dr. Kevin Folta, UF IFAS Department of Horticulture – Closed Controlled Environment.
2:30 pm Jennifer Waxman, Executive Director, The Villages Grown™ – Bridging Agriculture and Wellness — How CEA may be the next movement towards the Food-as Medicine approach.
3:00 pm Bob Hochmuth – TBA
3:30 pm Federico Boscolo, Cultiva Farms – TBA
Jonathan Way, Colusa Farms – TBA

Innovations in Water and Nutrient Management (Monday pm)

2:00 pm Doug Crawford, BMP Logic – Real-time irrigation management with wireless soil moisture sensor – adoptions in North America and lessons learned.
2:30 pm Grower’s perspective on technology adoption in managing water and nutrient over three decades, Lipman Family Farms.
3:00 pm Dr. Sanjay Shukla and TBA – Circular nitrogen and phosphorus economy.
3:30 pm Dr. Sandra Guzman, UF IFAS IRREC – New technologies for efficient irrigation.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Technology Show – Virtual Trade Show

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Virtual Party (Happy Hour)

DAY 2 – Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Keynote Speaker TBA

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM Morning Sessions

Automation Artificial Intelligence, and Precision Spraying (Tuesday am)
10:00 am Dr. Lynn M Sosnoskie, Cornell University, – Review of weed management technology.
10:30 am Dr. Nathan Boyd, UF IFAS GCREC – Weed Management for the Future.
11:00 am Dr. Thanos Balafoutis, IBO, Greece – Variable rate technologies for precision spraying.
11:30 am Keith Hollingsworth, CC and/or Dr. Yiannis Ampatzidis, UF IFAS SWFREC – Smart tree crop sprayer utilizing sensor fusion and AI.

Environmental Services (Tuesday am)

10:00 am Benita Whelan, Florida Cattlemen’s Association – Dispersed Water Management System.
10:20 am Dr. Sanjay Shukla, UF IFAS, SWFREC, and Linda McCarthy, Lykes Bros Inc. Payment for water storage and treatment services program in the Everglades Basin– From pilot to large-scale implementation.
11:00 am Ernie Shea, Solutions from the Land – Florida Climate Smart Agriculture Working Group Overview.
11:30 am David M. (Max) Williamson, Williamson Law + Policy PLLC – High-level Overview of Carbon Markets.

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Break and Technology Show – Virtual Trade Show

2:00 PM – 4:00 pm – Afternoon Sessions

Automation and Pest/Disease Management (Tuesday pm)

2:00 pm Dr. Natalia Peres, UF IFAS GCREC – Ultraviolet Robot for control of Powdery mildew in Strawberry.
2:30 pm Dr. Ozgur Batuman, UF IFAS SWFREC – Development of a novel automated delivery system for citrus trees.
3:00 pm Michael Otte, Rantizo – Drone Spraying, the Future Present of Agriculture.
3:30 pm Liron Brish, Farm Dog – Easily digitizing your in-field workforce – the foundation for efficiency and effectiveness.

Water Management I Mixed session I (Tuesday pm)

2:00 pm Dr. George Vellidis, UGA – SmartIrrigation – a Pathway to Sustainable Intensification.
2:30 pm Dan Urban, Analytics Lead, CERESIMAGING – Managing the variability in transpiration and vigor with aerial imagery.
3:00 pm Grant Allen, C&M North America (Checchi & Magli) – Vegetable/Melon Transplanting – Speed, Precision, Automation, etc.
3:30 pm TBA

Traceability/Blockchain (Tuesday pm)

2:00 pm Yolanda Ramirez, VP Market Development and Analytics, AgTools – Using data to improve market access and profit margins (KM), AgTools – Using data to improve market access and profit margins.
2:30 pm Bristol Wells, Highlands Agriculture – Virtualizing the Business of Ag with Highland Ag Solutions.
3:00 pm Creg Fielding, Fusionware – Vertically Integrated Supply Chain – Get out of spreadsheet hell!
3:30 pm Cale Teeter, Microsoft – Blockchain.

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Round Table and Closing

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Virtual Party (Happy Hour)

For more information view our website – https://swfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/AgTechExpo2021/

To register – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ag-tech-expo-the-future-of-farming-tickets-142756134441?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

CEU’s and CCA credit will be offered.