The Center for Digital Agriculture (CDA) at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign was formed to help agricultural producers, researchers, and industries keep pace with the ways technology is transforming how we feed and support a growing global population. Increased global productivity and sustainability requires technical innovations that involve CDA’s primary themes: Automation, Data, Animals and Crops, and People. CDA houses a USDA – NIFA funded National AI Institute (AIFARMS) and the I-FARM: Farm of the Future Project, along with many additional digital agriculture research programs.

Local representatives: Vikram Adve, Matt Hudson
Administrative contact: Jessica Wedow

ETH Zurich is a public research university in Switzerland. It has a world-class reputation in academia and industry, particularly in science and technology. It regularly ranks among the top universities globally. Students, faculty and researchers affiliated with ETH Zurich include 22 Nobel laureates. In the context of the Swiss national roadmap for research infrastructures, ETH Zurich together with other institutions will establish the ‘Swiss Biosites for Sustainable Agriculture and Agroecology’ (SISAL) from 2025 on. This unique, coordinated, physical and digital open-access research infrastructure will provide agroecological and other cutting-edge experimental facilities allowing near-real-time assessments of agroecosystem, crop and livestock performance.
Agroscope is the Swiss Confederation’s center for agricultural research and is affiliated with the Federal Office for Agriculture, which is subordinate to the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. Agroscope contributes to a sustainable agriculture and food sector, and to maintain an intact environment.

Local representative: Achim Walter
Administrative contact: Simone Nanzer

PhenoRob – Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production is a Cluster of Excellence carried out at the University of Bonn in cooperation with Forschungszentrum Jülich. The goal of PhenoRob is to enable important steps towards more productive, resource-efficient and sustainable crop production. This means reducing the environmental footprint of crop production, preserving the quality of soil and farmland, and identifying the best ways to introduce new technologies. PhenoRob scientists have backgrounds in computer science, geodesy, robotics, plant science, soil science, economics, and environmental science.

Local representatives: Heiner Kuhlmann, Cyrill Stachniss
Administrative contact: administration@phenorob.de

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands. It is a collaboration between Wageningen University and the Wageningen Research foundation, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. The strength of Wageningen University & Research lies in its ability to join the forces of specialised research institutes and the university. It also lies in the combined efforts of the various fields of natural and social sciences. This union of expertise leads to scientific breakthroughs that can quickly be put into practice and be incorporated into education. Collaboration with other parties such as government, business and NGOs is indispensable.

Local representatives: Eldert van Henten, Lammert Kooistra