12/16/2022
We're so excited to be a part of this very innovative and exciting project, and its future roll out.
Led by the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I³R) at the U of A, a cross-disciplinary team of university researchers, consultants and startup companies has been awarded a National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator grant for a project designed to connect regional farmers with institutional buyers and ultimately expand access to healthy and nutritious food.
NSF’s Convergence Accelerator was launched in 2019 to build upon basic research and accelerate solutions toward societal impact through convergence — the integration of ideas and approaches across research sectors.
The project, “Data-driven Agriculture to Bridge Small Farms to Regional Food Supply Chains,” — one of 16 multidisciplinary teams awarded under the NSF Convergence Accelerator’s Track J: Food & Nutrition Security — brings researchers from the U of A, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and University of Florida together with two startups, Cureate and Junction AI Inc., and a team of consultants to tackle challenges such as food insecurity while offering novel business solutions.
“We’re excited to bring this team of experts and innovators together to empower regional food producers with data insights that could enable access to new markets,” said the project’s principal investigator, Meredith Adkins, who is currently the director for industry and community engagement for the Division of Economic Development and will be transitioning to be an assistant research professor at I³R. “By leveraging our collective expertise and engaging in an extensive planning and user discovery process to deeply understand the needs of producers, buyers and other stakeholders, we have the opportunity to make both a positive societal and economic impact, particularly here in Arkansas.”
The overall objective is to empower regional food producers to understand the economic value of specialty crop assortment and food animals on their farms in comparison to market demand for institutional sales and intervening factors such as food safety considerations. The project team ultimately will create a scalable technology platform that provides market insights to small farmers via the convergence of multiple scientific research fields and modern technological innovations such as robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The project will engage students, including those underrepresented in fields such as food science and computer engineering, in convergence research and in human-centered design across the three Arkansas land-grant institutions. The investigators will lead outreach with small farmers in Northwest Arkansas, as well as the underserved regions of the central Arkansas Delta and the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma through the U of A School of Law’s Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative, a grant collaborator.
“IFAI is excited to collaborate on this cross-disciplinary effort to support our region’s Indigenous food producers,” said Erin Parker, executive director of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative. “Supporting economic development through tribally-led agricultural investment in Indian Country is a key part of our mission, and we look forward to the opportunities this work will open up for Tribal producers.”
Success of the project will have broader societal implications for the economic livelihoods of small farmers and local businesses, for climate resiliency by creating income streams for farmers practicing regenerative agricultural techniques of mixed farming and crop diversification, and for the increased availability of safe and nutritious local food and metabolic health in local communities.
“It is encouraging to see this partnership with the Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas and University of Arkansas Pine Bluff,” said Deacue Fields, vice president of the U of A System Division of Agriculture. “This project speaks to our mission of strengthening agriculture, communities and families.”
The grant totals $743,651 and will support market research, hiring of graduate assistants, development of the technology platform and other initiatives. Co-investigators include Chase Rainwater, professor of industrial engineering, U of A; Kristen Gibson, professor of food science, U of A System Division of Agriculture and U of A; Thi Hoang Ngan Le, assistant professor of computer science and computer engineering, U of A; and Yasser Sanad, assistant professor of food safety, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. Multiple distinguished faculty and consultants serve as senior personnel and will advise on the project.
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Department of Food Science, University of Arkansas University of Arkansas: Computer Science and Computer Engineering ICubedR University of Arkansas School of Law Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative Indigenous Food and Agriculture UAPB - School of Agriculture, Fisheries and Human Sciences Industrial Engineering at the University of Arkansas National Science Foundation (NSF) Junction AI Cureate Farm.News Farm Industry News Successful Farming FarmPress Farm Journal Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation Arkansas Department of Agriculture AgWeb.com
