CAIA's Journey

Originating from stakeholder discussions at the 2018 Virginia Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Summit and the Virginia Tech (VT) Smart Farm Innovation Network initiative, VT’s Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture (CAIA) grew from the idea that the world needs efficient, resilient, technologically capable, nimble, environmentally sustainable, and forward-thinking agriculture and food systems. Innovative efficiencies and improvements in plant and food animal genetics, nutrient use in crop and animal production, soil and water resource conservation, and food loss and waste mitigation must be developed and implemented to sustain the world’s growing population and the bioeconomy of the United States.

Since inception in 2020 as a platform-based Center, CAIA has successfully pursued its originally outlined vision and mission and achieved many of its initial goals. More importantly, CAIA is constantly evolving to meet changing needs and priorities, incorporate diverse expertise and fields into agricultural and food systems, and remain at the forefront of innovation in agriculture. To maintain agility moving forward, CAIA began operating initiative-based programming in 2024 that creates a nimbler approach to research priorities, invites both top-down and bottom-up ideation, facilitates collaboration vehicles, and empowers faculty to pursue large team endeavors.