A rising global population, increasing wealth, changing consumer demand, and climate variation put growing pressure on food systems. Current agricultural practices may meet global demand in the short term, but over the long term these strategies are unsustainable. Globally, agriculture demands a radical transformation.
The world’s future food systems must become more sustainable, productive, resilient, and efficient. We must re-envision the way food is produced, processed, and distributed; the way natural resources are used, recycled, and replenished; and the way social and agricultural systems interact to support healthy individuals, communities, and environments. We must integrate knowledge from biology, ecology, engineering, business, computer and information science, and the social sciences to create communication networks that enable timely response and informed decision-making at the level of the farm, community, nation, and world.
The Charge
The Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture (CIDA) connects world-renowned researchers across academic boundaries with multidisciplinary practitioners to address global food system challenges. CIDA also develops and applies digital innovations in agriculture designed to improve the sustainability, profitability, resiliency, and efficiency of the world’s food systems.
The CIDA Task Force will continue to connect Cornell researchers pursuing a range of relevant projects in the areas of systems analytics, digital innovations, and discovery and design. The task force will also seek out innovative and mutually beneficial private-public partnerships. Diverse partners from the private sector, foundations, civil society organizations, and government agencies, collaborating with Cornell’s talented faculty, staff, and students in our state-of-the-art research and development facilities, can develop integrated responses to economic, social, and ecological problems.
The CIDA Task Force is charged with guidance and oversight of these ongoing activities as well as planning future initiatives.
| Name | Field |
|---|---|
| Diane Bailey | Communications, CALS (director) |
| Renata Ivanek | Population Medicine and Diagnostics, Veterinary College (assoc. director) |
| Fengqi You | Chemical and Biological Engineering, Cornell Engineering (assoc. director) |
| Hakim Weatherspoon | Computer Science, Cornell Bowers CIS (assoc. director) |
| Julio Giordano | Animal Science, CALS (assoc. director) |
| Samuel Alcaine | Food Science, CALS |
| Yu Jiang | Horticulture (Agritech), CALS |
| Chris De Sa | Computer Science, Cornell Bowers CIS |
| Steven Wolf | Natural Resources, CALS |
| Kirstin Petersen | Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell Engineering |
| Ed Mabaya | Global Development, CALS |
| Ying Sun | Crop and Soil Sciences, CALS |