WHO: Experts from the University of Florida and agribusiness

WHAT: The public and the media are invited to tune in to a two-day virtual meeting about the future of farming.

To bring food to your table, growers must compete in the global marketplace. Agriculture’s future involves robots, drones, machine learning and plant genetics, any combination of which can make crops disease- and/or pest-resistant and, perhaps, tastier.

Florida is known as a “specialty crop state.” That means producers grow crops such as strawberries, tomatoes and blueberries, to name a few. Those farmers rely on technology and innovation that comes through a collaboration of the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), growers and related industries. Because farmers grow your food, you count on that same collaboration.

“Agriculture will have to produce more food in the next 50 years than we have in the last 10,000 years to support the burgeoning world population. Farmers will have to do so with fewer resources and significantly less environmental impact,” said Gene McAvoy, associate director of stakeholder relations for the UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center. “It is only through technology and innovation that this will be possible.”

To find out more about innovative technology that includes artificial intelligence, precision agriculture and plant genetics, register for the “Future of Farming.”

• On May 10, tune in for sessions on: Precision agriculture/sustainability, drones, genomics and robotics, among other topics.
• On May 11, find out about artificial intelligence and precision spraying, environmental services and automation and disease management and more.

The event will start on May 10 at 9 a.m. with opening remarks by Scott Angle, UF vice president for agriculture and natural resources and administrative leader, UF/IFAS.

Among the UF/IFAS scientists speaking at the zoom meeting:

• agricultural engineers Sanjay Shukla, Yiannis Ampatzidis and Sandra Guzman
• strawberry breeder Vance Whitaker
• tomato breeders Sam Hutton and Tong Geon Lee
• horticultural sciences professor Kevin Folta
• plant pathologists Natalia Peres and Ozgur Batuman
• plant geneticist and corn breeder Marcio Resende.

WHEN: May 10-11.

WHERE: The event will be hosted by the UF/IFAS Southwest Research and Education Center (SWFREC) in Immokalee.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Gene McAvoy, associate director for stakeholder relations at SWFREC. gmcavoy@ufl.edu. Register here.

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The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS works to bring science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents. Visit the UF/IFAS web site at ifas.ufl.edu and follow us on social media at @UF_IFAS.

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