The Artificial Intelligence Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, or AIFS, was launched October 1, 2020 to solve the world’s biggest challenges to crop and food production facing our planet: ensuring a sustainable, nutritious, efficient and safe food supply while mitigating the impacts of climate change. The institute has been designed to be inclusive, fostering collaborations to develop open-source AI solutions across the food system. Given food’s fundamental role in human health and well-being, coupled with its far-reaching impacts on the national economy and environment, the institute will bring together more than 40 researchers from six institutions. UC Davis UC Berkeley, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, Cornell University, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This work is supported by AFRI Competitive Grant no. 2020-67021-32855/project accession no. 1024262 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.