- Author: Amy Quinton, UC Davis News and Media Relations
![Grape growers can save between 60% to 80% of labor operation costs per acre by using mechanical pruning instead of hand pruning alone. Photo by Hector Amezcua, UC Davis](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/food/blogfiles/82226small.jpg)
Wine grape growers in California and elsewhere face increasing labor costs and severe labor shortages, making it difficult to manage and harvest a vineyard while maintaining profitability. Growers are increasingly turning to machines for pruning, canopy management and harvesting, but how well these practices are executed can substantially affect yield and quality. A new
- Author: AJ Cheline, UC Davis
![Ilias Tagkopoulos, right, in his lab at the UC Davis Genome Center with research specialist Navneet Rai in 2016. Tagkopoulos, whose work bridges computer science and biology, will lead a new institute for artificial intelligence in food systems supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation. (UC Davis College of Engineering)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/food/blogfiles/73346small.jpg)
The University of California, Davis, has been awarded $20 million as part of a multi-institutional collaboration to establish a new institute focused on enabling the next generation food system through the integration of artificial intelligence, or AI, technologies. The award is part of a larger investment announced Aug. 26 by the National Science Foundation, or NSF, in partnership with several federal agencies — distributing a total of $140 million to fund seven complimentary AI research institutes across the nation.
The AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, or AIFS, aims to meet growing demands in our food supply by increasing efficiencies using AI and...
- Author: Brenda Dawson
![View inside a cold room, with crates of fresh vegetables in front of a wall-mounted air conditioner wired to a CoolBot device. One of the vegetable crates has a sticker on it with logos including USAID.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/food/blogfiles/35388small.jpg)
In many developing countries, more than half of all fruits and vegetables are never eaten, but instead are lost, damaged or spoiled after harvest. These “postharvest” losses can mean that farmers need to sell their fresh produce as soon as it is harvested for whatever price they can get, before they lose the crops that represent investments of labor, water, and agricultural inputs. Improving how fruits and vegetables are handled after harvest can significantly prolong freshness — and cooling is key.
“The three most important aspects of postharvest handling are: temperature, temperature, temperature,” said Michael Reid, UC Cooperative Extension...
- Author: Chris M. Webb
![GPS receiver mounted on a tractor cab. GPS systems are increasingly used in agriculture. Photo J. Williams.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/food/blogfiles/10133small.jpg)
Agricultural innovation and technological advances have been harvested from UC Davis over the last century. As advances are achieved, our growing global population applies pressure for researchers to achieve more. California is a top world-wide producer of agricultural products, and California researchers work hard to find new and better ways to produce food.
The UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES) does much to contribute towards this effort. The recent CA&ES Outlook: Feeding a Hungry Planet highlights current research and innovations to provide agricultural producers knowledge and technology needed to make better,...