# @ucsc on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DVgqnvXkrR1
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/58513225-ucsc-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/4e1bc5be88.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-05T17:02:12.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** UC Santa Cruz (@ucsc) — https://gondola.cc/ucsc

## Caption

Specialty crop growers are getting new AgTech for a more sustainable future! 🧑‍🌾 Two interdisciplinary teams from baskinengineering and ucscagroecology will develop practical, low-cost, farmer-centered innovations — with support from the usda 2025 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

🚰 One project is building DIY, open-source irrigation hardware to help farmers monitor soil moisture and automate watering without the high cost and complexity of existing systems. The team will test the system locally and co-design it with growers to ensure it’s accessible, scalable, and multilingual. 

🚜The second project advances smart, electric tractors by partnering directly with small, organic producers to co-develop AI-enabled tools for planting, weeding, and harvesting. The tractors will integrate safety-focused software, wireless controls, and open-source design.

“Both of these projects represent what we are trying to achieve as the UC Santa Cruz AgTech Alliance: socially responsible solutions for the emerging challenges faced by farmers and other stakeholders in agriculture and food production,” said Colleen Josephson, #BaskinEngineering professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-director of the Ag Tech Alliance.

#ucsc #ucsantacruz #AgTech

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 317
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## Tags

ucsc, ucsantacruz, baskinengineering, agtech

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