AI-ENABLED TECHNOLOGY FOR AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SYSTEMS ARE ADVANCING AT A RAPID PACE FROM CROP BREEDING AND PRODUCTION THROUGH FOOD PROCESSING AND CONSUMPTION. A KEY BARRIER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AI-ENABLED INNOVATIONS IN FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IS THE AVAILABILITY OF HIGH-QUALITY, LARGE-SCALE, RELEVANT DATASETS TO TRAIN DEEP AI MODELS. COLLECTING THIS DATA AND CONDUCTING GROUND TRUTH OBSERVATION IS COSTLY, OFTEN PRIVATELY HELD, AND MAY TAKE YEARS AND GLOBAL TRAVEL TO OBTAIN. ACCURATE, TESTED, AND ROBUST DATASETS AND MACHINE LEARNING (ML) MODELS DERIVED FROM, AND SUPPORTING END-TO-END FOOD SYSTEM COMPONENTS ARE NEEDED. KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO CURATE, RETRIEVE, AND USE THESE MODELS AND DATA ARE ALSO CRITICAL. THE AVAILABILITY AND KNOWLEDGEABLE IMPLEMENTATION OF THESE MODELS AND DATA CAN DRAMATICALLY LOWER THE COST AND TIME TO EFFECT CHANGE IN FOOD SYSTEM INFORMATICS.DEVELOPING SUCH DATA AND MODELS FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IS CHALLENGING AS THEY REPRESENT COMPLEX INTERACTIONS BETWEEN BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, MACHINERY, SENSORS, AND HUMANS4. THEY REQUIRE CROSS-DISCIPLINARY EXPERTISE FROM PLANT AND FOOD SCIENCE COMBINED WITH ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE, AMONG OTHER DISCIPLINES. UNIVERSITIES ACROSS THE WORLD ARE MAKING PROGRESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ML MODELS AND DATA SETS FOR AI DEVELOPMENT IN FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, WITH VARYING FOCUS AREAS AND APPROACHES.BUILDING UPON THE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS OF THE CURRENT AWARD, AIFS WILL ENGAGE A KEY INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE, DATA DRIVEN AGRIFOOD FUTURE (DDAF) AND ITS CONSTITUENTS IN A MULTI-PRONGED COLLABORATIVE EFFORT INVOLVING ESTABLISHING COMMON GROUND FOR AI INNOVATION, ARTICULATING THE PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED, ENGAGING IN SPECIFIC RESEARCH RELATED TO THESE PROBLEMS, AND PARTICIPATING VIRTUALLY IN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOPS TO ALLOW ALL ALLIANCE MEMBERS TO SHARE AND LEARN FROM EACH OTHER, AND TO CHART A PATH FORWARD.AIFS GRADUATE STUDENTS WILL TRAVEL TO WAGINENGEN UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH (WUR) IN NETHERLANDS AND FRAUNHOFER ISE IN GERMANY FORTHIS COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH, AND WILL BE GUIDED BY BOTH FACULTY/STAFF AT THOSE INSTITUTIONS AND FROM THEIR PARTICIPATING AIFS FACULTY.