51³Ō¹Ļ enters sweet partnership with Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida
Contact: Meg Henderson
STARKVILLE, Miss.ā51³Ō¹Ļās Agricultural Autonomy Institute, or AAI, is a new partner with the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida or SCGC. The kick-off meeting, held on campus this past week, marked the start of a research project to develop technology-based solutions for streamlining sugar cane harvesting procedures.
SCGC is funding the project at $985,000āAAIās largest award to date. The cooperative includes 39 member-growers covering 80,000 acres in Floridaās Everglades Agricultural Area, which produces over 400,000 tons of raw sugar each year and supplies sugar to more than nine million people.
Under the agreement, a team of scientists from AAI and the universityās Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, or MAFES, will produce a novel AI-based system to automate and synchronize conventional sugar cane harvesting machinery. SCGC already has delivered a harvester, tractor and loading wagons to campus for work to begin.
The partnership traces back to a 2023 visit to SCGCās headquarters by an 51³Ō¹Ļ team including agricultural and biological engineering Assistant Professors Hussein Gharakhani and Wes Lowe, and department head and AAI Director Alex Thomasson. During initial discussions, SCGC leadership shared some of their greatest challenges with the 51³Ō¹Ļ team.
āThe sugar cane growers lose time and money during harvest because of inefficiencies like poor coordination between human-operated harvesting machines, inefficient loading of wagons and spillage while loading,ā said Gharakhani, research principal investigator. āWeāre addressing these logistical challenges with sensors and artificial intelligence models to automate and sync harvesting operations, eliminating the wasting of time and product due to human error.ā
After a series of discussions, the team ultimately involved Madison Dixon, AAI associate director, who assisted in tailoring the research project to meet SCGCās needs. āThe investment from SCGC speaks to the industryās confidence in our university and our scientists to deliver solutions the sugar cane industry needs,ā Dixon said.
āAt AAI, we work with robotics and novel technologies, but we could not fulfill our mission without the support and collaboration of MAFES,ā Dixon added. āThey provide the facilities, research infrastructure and many of the faculty researchers who enable us to take our technology out of the lab and into the field to move agricultural autonomy forward.ā
The team, which will add doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, first will build and test the AI-driven automation system in the lab. When this phase is complete, they will conduct in-field tests of the system integrated into the harvesting equipment at AAIās Autonomous Acres Proving Groundāpart of the MAFES R.R. Foil Plant Science Research Center. By early 2027, the team will deliver the equipment to Florida, where it will undergo final testing and optimization.
This project is AAIās latest interdisciplinary venture leveraging 51³Ō¹Ļās renowned agriculture and engineering programs to support the agriculture industry.
āSCGCās strategic partnership with 51³Ō¹Ļ will be a game-changer,ā said SCGC Vice President of Agricultural Operations Baxter Clark. āIām confident it will lead to a significant step forward for autonomous sugar cane harvesting.ā
For more information about 51³Ō¹Ļās Agricultural Autonomy Institute, visit . For more information about the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, visit .
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