08/26/2026
Today, the Washington State Academy of Sciences (WSAS) launched our first-ever open Call for Ideas to help Washington agriculture thrive in the age of AI.
Ideas most likely to have an impact for Washington agriculture will receive cash prizes of up to $2,000 and be featured at the WSAS Innovation Showcase on October 8. Our goal is to help these ideas find collaborators to scale what works, or to surface new solutions for Washington agriculture.
Washington's farms are under real pressure. The state lost more than 3,700 farms between 2017 and 2022, ranked last in the nation for farm profitability in 2024, and faced four consecutive drought emergencies. At the same time, AI is advancing fast, and the window to shape how it impacts agriculture is open now.
Over the past year, WSAS convened researchers, producers, AI developers, policymakers, and funders to define the key challenges to keeping Washington’s agriculture and food systems robust, with a focus on potential benefits and risks of artificial intelligence. Now the broader community is invited to submit ideas for how to address them.
We are looking for ideas that:
Leverage or address AI (e.g., new tools, integration into existing practices, or strategies to manage emerging risks)
Come from researchers, farmers, students, entrepreneurs, technologists, or policymakers
Are at any stage, from early concepts to works already in progress
Address key challenges identified at our April workshop - explore all the challenges.
https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=ceQrtfH3tEeoeQx5m7U9tTa139m56O9AhO3Y92NHjPZUQkRUMk5LOENGMUQzNkFJQVc2NlpQQkNETy4u&route=shorturl