Nation’s Largest Ag Opportunity Zone Gets AI And Blockchain Makeover

BELLEVUE, Wash., March 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Core Scientific, a leading infrastructure and software solutions provider for artificial intelligence and blockchain, announced it will provide innovative blockchain and AI solutions to the $314 million Agriculture Technology Campus in Early Branch, South Carolina. The high-tech agriculture campus is both the largest agricultural investment in the history of South Carolina and the largest agricultural investment in a Federal Qualified Opportunity Zone.

Located between Charleston and Savannah, the Agriculture Technology Campus is a joint venture between Mastronardi Produce, Clear Water Farms, and LiDestri Food and Drink. The GEM Opportunity Zone Fund, a private investment firm focused on impact investing, will build and own all of the facilities on the campus, which includes greenhouses, a distribution center, and co-packing facilities.

“Simply put, this is a major investment for the state of South Carolina, which has never seen an agricultural project of this scale. Additionally, a partnership of this nature between such well-respected names in the industry is the first of its kind,” said Zeb Portanova, CEO at GEM Opportunity Zone Fund. “We’re teaming with Core Scientific to create a bonafide technological epicenter for agriculture not just locally, but globally. Once fully realized, the Agriculture Technology Campus will be able to provide pesticide-free, locally grown produce for 50 to 60 million Americans in the Southeast from the vine to the shelf in just a couple of days.”

Blockchain provides a transparent and immutable registry of data, meaning produce recorded on the blockchain can be clearly traced from seed source to table. Thus, consumers can guarantee the provenance of their food while producers can identify and correct various issues throughout the supply chain. This technology, coupled with AI/ML, will have a broad impact on the interoperable manner the partners in the Agriculture Technology Campus will work.

“This is one of the most technologically progressive teams I have worked with,” said Ian Ferreira, Chief Product Officer of Artificial Intelligence at Core Scientific. “We will be working alongside the GEM Opportunity Zone Fund to commit all of the Agriculture Technology Campus facilities to Smart Agriculture increasing productivity, yield and crop provenance. Using blockchain paired with AI-enabled production processes and technologies, the goal is to create a Center of Excellence for this agriculture category right here in the US.”

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