In this episode, Agrimesh Technologies Vice President of Sales and Operations Erik Longtin outlines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is opening doors for farmers, growers — and, even some processors — to increase operating efficiencies, reduce costs and generate valuable data that can help improve how their facilities work. The Canadian-based company currently works with a variety of food production and animal growers in both North and South America and is looking at new approaches to expand the use of AI systems to monitor and manage control systems across the food production and related agricultural industries.

In this episode, a panel of Danville Community College administrators and instructors describe a relationship the Virginia-based school has established with Tyson Foods Inc. The school offers a specific technical training program that gives eligible students who complete the program a chance to move into technical maintenance jobs at a high-tech Tyson chicken products plant in Danville, Va. Our panelists describe the progress the program is making in delivering qualified, full-time technicians and how the program is attracting new students in a “win-win” for all participants. The panel also describes how similar relationships with other types of companies in the region may be developed as feedback on the current partnership affirms the success of the program with Tyson.

Beyond managing programs at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences that focus on food safety protocols, Dr. Francisco Diez-Gonzalez also is the co-author of recent research into the eradication of Listeria monocytogenes using blue light and polymers. In this MeatingPod, he’ll discuss progress in food safety management at food plants and the need for processors and researchers to maintain flexibility as pathogens adapt or emerge during the manufacturing stage. He also outlines the attributes that food safety experts of the future will need as challenges in maintaining food safety standards evolve.