IMMOKALEE, Fla. — There's cutting-edge farming tech on display at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee.
Fox 4’s Austin Schargorodski went to the Spring Vegetable Field day to see why, with farming costs going up and tariffs looming, researchers say these new tools couldn’t come at a better time.
Watch what researchers told Austin about the importance of the new tech:
Pest control drones, AI chatbots that map soil health, and intelligent robots that target weeds with precision - the event highlighted tools designed to help farmers do more with less. Researchers say these advancements are crucial to farming sustainability here, especially as the costs of materials and labor keep rising.
"Any potential tool to identify stresses, or pests and diseases sooner. Any tool for precision management is really what the industry is moving towards—how do we become more precise in our management so we can do more with less," said Craig Frey, multi-county Extension agent for UF/IFAS.
But while this new tech is promising, researchers say it could be harder to develop and put into farmers' hands if federal grant funding continues to get cut. If tariffs drive up the cost of imported drones and sensors, they worry adoption could slow even more.
"We feel the impact of tariffs right. What is coming - we're already starting to feel some of that. But what would happen if we didn't have our own food supply? That would change things drastically," Frey said.
Frey says Florida’s vegetable farms feed most of the East Coast in winter, and losing local production could impact our food security.
"If we aren't able to keep our farmers in business and if we're not able to do things sustainably and we lose production here, then we're losing food security for our state and for our nation," said Frey.
For those helping farmers stay efficient in the field, these tools aren't just promising - they’re practical. Gene McAvoy, extension agent emeritus with UF/IFAS, says this technology could make a big difference.
"Hand labor to do weeding is several hundred dollars an acre. If we can do that for several tens of dollars an acre it's great savings to a grower," said McAvoy.
As researchers work to refine this tech, they say events like this are key to making sure the right tools end up in the right hands.
"Things that people are doing now, but with less time. We're not going to replace anyone, we would just like to make things easier," said Nikos Tziolas, assistant professor of soil, water, and ecosystem sciences who works with AI.
