Maharashtra government will hold a two-day global Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture and Investment Summit called “AI for Agri 2026” on February 22 and 23. The venue is the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. This event is part of the ‘State Agriculture–Artificial Intelligence Policy’ initiative. To support this, an institutional center for Artificial Intelligence and Agritech Innovation has been set up to implement the policy. The government has approved ₹500 crore in the first phase for this project, according to the Agriculture Ministry. Agriculture Minister Dattatray Bharane said, “To ensure that farmers in Maharashtra gain access to global technologies through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and adopt innovative technologies in agriculture the conference will be held.” He added this will be a major step toward implementing the Maharashtra Agriculture–Artificial Intelligence Policy 2025–2029. This policy promotes real-world use of AI in farming and allied sectors. It aims to build digital tools like MahaAgriX (Maharashtra Agriculture Data Exchange), AI-powered traceability systems, an AI-based geospatial intelligence engine, and a farmer-focused AI advisory platform called MahaVistar. Farmers and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) will benefit from AI-based crop advisory services, tools for climate-resilient farm planning, early warnings for pests and diseases, crop production forecasts, market intelligence, and traceability-enabled value chains. The conference is organized with global and national partners including the World Economic Forum (WEF), FAO, UNDP, IFAD, World Bank Group, Asian Development Bank (ADB), ICRISAT, IISc, and MSSRF. Participants include policymakers, international bodies, scientists, academic institutions, tech leaders, startups, investors, FPOs, and farming community representatives. Notable attendees are Nandan Nilekani, Infosys co-founder and UIDAI founding chairman, and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, MSSRF chairperson. An exhibition will display cutting-edge AI and technology innovations throughout the agriculture value chain. Highlights include precision farming, remote sensing, geospatial intelligence, AI advisory systems, climate risk analytics, traceability solutions, digital agri-finance, and market linkage platforms.