Key Takeaways
- The U.S. National Science Foundation announces first AI-ENGAGE awards totaling $2.4 million in U.S. funding.
- Initiative is coordinated with Australia, India, and Japan under the Quad framework.
- Six international research projects will apply AI to crop resilience and pest management.
- Combined investment exceeds $6 million across participating countries.
- Projects require collaboration among at least three Quad nations.
U.S. National Science Foundation Announces AI-ENGAGE Cohort
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), in coordination with partner agencies from Australia, India, and Japan, has announced the first round of awards under the Advancing Innovations for Empowering NextGen AGriculturE (AI-ENGAGE) initiative. The program allocates approximately $2.4 million in NSF funding to six international research projects focused on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in agriculture.
AI-ENGAGE represents a collaboration between NSF, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Each project includes researchers from at least three of the four participating nations.
Brian Stone, performing the duties of NSF director, said the initiative aims to integrate AI and emerging technologies into agriculture to strengthen crop productivity, pest management, and food security.
Six Research Projects Focus on Practical AI Tools
The awarded projects address a range of agricultural challenges:
- Purdue University: Development of autonomous aerial and ground robots for early disease detection in apple orchards.
- Iowa State University: Creation of “BRIDGE,” an AI-based smartphone app and chatbot to support real-time pest and disease identification.
- Kansas State University: Implementation of “Smart Scout,” a computer vision system to estimate soybean yield and detect crop lodging.
- Missouri University of Science and Technology / University of Tennessee: Development of the “HARVEST” system using multimodal AI for pest and nutrient management in corn and rice.
- Washington State University: Advancement of AI-driven genomic selection models for resilient wheat breeding.
- Cornell University: Image-based phenotyping tools to accelerate breeding of tomatoes, onions, and strawberries.
Each initiative is structured to generate AI-enabled solutions that can be applied across diverse agricultural systems in the United States and Indo-Pacific region.
Quad Collaboration and Funding Structure Around U.S. National Science Foundation
Under the AI-ENGAGE framework, each participating agency funds researchers within its respective country. NSF contributes approximately $2.4 million to U.S.-based teams, while partner agencies collectively provide an additional $4 million in funding, bringing the combined investment to over $6 million.
The initiative is part of broader Quad cooperation on critical and emerging technologies, with a focus on agricultural resilience and scientific collaboration across regions.
