The World Economic Forum has prioritized creating ecosystems of change to increase both brain and body wellness by 2035 to reduce lifestyle-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, to name a few of the most common killers in U.S. society today. The aggregated economic cost of unhealthy food choices in the U.S. is estimated at $1.1 trillion per year, a staggering toll on our healthcare system and premature loss of life. In this talk Messina will offer a perspective to approach this problem by considering increasing the availability, access, and adoption of healthier foods. He will focus on the use of models for crop improvement, and the development of agrihoods.

Charlie Messina is professor in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at the University of Florida. His teaching and research program focuses on how to harmonize crop improvement and AI efforts for agricultural systems to regenerate the environment while providing nutrition security, improve human health, and adapt to climate change. His team evaluates and applies novel prediction methods and systems within operational breeding programs.

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