CITRIS supports AgTech Alliance at UC Santa Cruz

Two women harvest turnips with a brown farm field in the background.
Photo courtesy of Carolyn Lagattuta

The UC Santa Cruz campus of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute will administer the UC Santa Cruz AgTech Alliance, a campus community striving to bring together people interested in ethical and responsible agricultural technology for a sustainable future. Two CITRIS researchers, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering Colleen Josephson and professor of environmental studies Gregory Gilbert, will serve as inaugural directors. 

“We believe that emerging technologies have the potential to dramatically reshape the agri-food system,” said Josephson. “The UC Santa Cruz AgTech Alliance is bringing together an interdisciplinary community to help lead that transformation in a positive direction.” 

With a goal of creating more formal opportunities for collaboration within and beyond the university, the program will support research, education, events and workforce development seeking to advance agricultural technology for a more sustainable future, and welcomes all those interested in these pursuits. 

“The AgTech Alliance will provide cohesion to an exciting network of cross-divisional research collaborators that we’ve been building in this specific topic area over the last several years with help from many different units across campus,” said Gilbert. “We hope that our new formalized structure will help us continue to grow as community-engaged researchers.”

The AgTech Alliance will take advantage of Santa Cruz’s prime location between leading regions in technology and agricultural production to foster industry relationships, and will additionally promote student engagement by integrating agricultural technology education into the classroom and collaborating with student organizations. 

Read more from the UC Santa Cruz Newscenter.