MASON EARLES
Co-Founder and CTO
Leadership
Mason Earles, Ph.D.
Co-Founder & CTO, AgScout
Associate Professor & Associate Agricultural Engineer, UC Davis
Mason Earles is the CTO and Co-Founder of AgScout and an Associate Professor at UC Davis, where he leads research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, computer vision, sensing systems, robotics, plant biophysics, and precision agriculture.
At UC Davis, Mason holds appointments in Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Viticulture and Enology, and leads the Plant AI and Biophysics Lab. His lab develops low-cost AI systems that generate new insight into plant biology and support more precise, sustainable agricultural practices.
AgScout was spun out of Mason’s UC Davis lab, which developed pioneering AI-enabled tools for plant-level sensing, modeling, and agronomic intelligence across specialty crops. His work bridges advanced research and practical field deployment, helping growers turn complex plant, vineyard, and field data into actionable decisions.
Mason’s work connects frontier AI research with the physical realities of farming — translating imagery, sensors, robotics, and plant science into scalable agronomic intelligence.
Mason’s research combines deep learning, computer vision, sensing, automation, and plant biophysical modeling to monitor and predict plant status, including stress, productivity, and yield. His lab also pushes AI beyond black-box prediction by studying biological mechanisms from molecular to organismal levels.
Mason co-leads the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems and Gates Foundation-funded Project GEMINI. He has testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry on the national opportunity to leverage artificial intelligence in agriculture, and has published widely on computer vision, remote sensing, precision agriculture, and plant phenotyping.
U.S. Senate Testimony
AI in Agriculture Presented to the U.S. Senate
Mason provided opening testimony for the U.S. Senate hearing “Innovation in American Agriculture: Leveraging Technology and Artificial Intelligence,” highlighting AI’s role in improving food systems, accelerating innovation, protecting data, and strengthening the future agricultural workforce.
Prior to AgScout and UC Davis, Mason was a Data Science Engineer at Apple, where he developed deep learning and computer vision tools within hardware engineering. During his doctoral and postdoctoral work, he advanced computational techniques for 3D image processing, plant quantification, and coupled biophysical modeling.
View Mason Earles’ UC Davis profile
Research & Technology Leadership
Mason’s work has helped define how plant-level data can become a foundation for more precise, efficient, and resilient agriculture. His research integrates AI, computer vision, custom sensing systems, robotics, and plant physiology to understand field variability, crop performance, and management opportunities at high resolution.