The , part of the University of Notre Dame鈥檚 , has received a $10 million grant from the OpenAI Foundation to help governments bring AI-powered weather services to millions of farmers across South and Southeast Asia and East Africa. The initiative connects agricultural innovation with funding to help millions of smallholder farmers adapt to climate change.
The initiative is led by , the Keough-Hesburgh Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Notre Dame and . AIM for Scale is a global initiative that has previously received support from the International Affairs Office of the UAE Presidential Court and the Gates Foundation.
The funding is part of a broader $60 million investment from the OpenAI Foundation that brings together AIM for Scale; the University of Chicago; the University of California, Berkeley; Precision Development; Digital Green and CIMMYT. Together, the organizations aim to expand access to AI-powered weather and crop disease forecasting tools for 100 million smallholder farmers over the next three years.
For Winters, the funding represents an opportunity to tackle a challenge that has long confronted the development community: how to move evidence-based innovations beyond successful pilots and into sustainable initiatives capable of reaching millions of people.
鈥淎rtificial intelligence is creating extraordinary new possibilities for farmers, but innovation alone is not enough,鈥� Winters said. 鈥淭he real challenge is ensuring that these tools become part of systems that can sustainably reach millions of farmers based in low- and middle-income countries. This funding gives us an opportunity to work with governments to translate rapid advances in AI into services that farmers can rely on year after year.鈥�
Taking AI-powered forecasts to scale
Smallholder farmers grow approximately one-third of the world鈥檚 food, yet many lack access to timely, localized information to guide critical decisions about planting, harvesting and protecting their crops. Dry spells, storms and disease outbreaks can threaten an entire season鈥檚 production and the livelihoods that depend on it.
Recent advances in artificial intelligence are creating new possibilities for closing this information gap. AI weather models can produce reliable, localized forecasts using substantially less computing power than traditional forecasting systems. AI can also help deliver forecasts and related advice to farmers through text messages, calls, chatbots and other channels.
Research suggests that access to timely forecasts can influence farmers鈥� decisions about what and when to plant and how much to invest, with the potential to increase incomes and reduce crop losses.
But developing better technology is only part of the challenge.
AIM for Scale will use the OpenAI Foundation funding to help governments move AI-powered weather services from promising pilots to sustainable delivery at national scale. Working with governments, multilateral development banks, academia and implementing partners, AIM for Scale will help connect these innovations with the partnerships, technical assistance and large-scale financing needed to reach millions of farmers.
This work will draw on the complementary expertise of organizations across the broader partnership. The University of Chicago and UC Berkeley will support national meteorological agencies in tailoring and operationalizing AI weather models. Precision Development will work with governments and civil society organizations to turn forecasts into practical advice and deliver it through trusted channels. Digital Green will integrate improved forecasts into FarmerChat, its AI agricultural advisory platform, while using farmer feedback to inform forecasting teams.
A portion of AIM for Scale鈥檚 $10 million grant will be awarded through a sub-grant to CIMMYT to advance AI-enabled crop disease forecasting. CIMMYT will strengthen its wheat pathogen forecasting capabilities, using AI and NASA Earth observation data to identify potential outbreaks earlier.
Originally published by at on Sept. 10.
Contact: Tracy DeStazio, associate director of media relations, 574-631-9958 or tdestazi@nd.edu