Grand Farm in North Dakota Looks to the Future of Agriculture
In partnership with: North Dakota Department of Agriculture
Fargo-based Grand Farm is on a mission to revolutionize agricultural technology through collaboration and innovation. Launched in April 2019, Grand Farm is powered by Emerging Prairie, an organization that connects entrepreneurs in North Dakota through events that foster economic growth. The initiative’s goal was to create change with help from ag technologists and growers to solve some of agriculture’s key pain points in the Red River Valley region.
“Grand Farm starts with challenges, and there are five main ones,” says Dr. William Aderholdt, Ph.D., director of the program management office at Grand Farm. “They include feeding the growing population, the ag labor shortage, lack of venture capital in the industry, a workforce skills gap of technologists and ag safety.”
To tackle these issues, Grand Farm facilitates demonstrations and experimental projects into possible solutions, including things like soil-health monitoring, precision spraying, the effect of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) and more. Grand Farm partners with over 40 organizations to help with these projects, such as tech companies from around the world, the United States Department of Agriculture and teaching institutions like the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University.
“Grand Farm is about thinking to the future,” Aderholdt says. “In 2020, we had plans for five projects and ended with 41. With the forming of more partnerships, we’re bringing on 100 projects for 2021 with the help of more than 40 organizations.” As well as conducting trials, the farm also holds several events for growers and others involved in the industry. “We have 66 events with hundreds of speakers in a socially distanced setting planned for next year,” Aderholdt says.
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Ag Tech is Vital
He maintains that technology is so important in agriculture because increased collection and management of data can help draw all the insights together for farmers, which solves problems faster and more efficiently. He says that one pain point they’re trying to address for North Dakota farmers is the issue of specialization.
“Specialization in technology has kept farmers from being generalists,” Aderholdt says. “For example, if I want to grow hemp and manufacture CBD, I have to buy special equipment because it’s so specialized. I can’t also grow soybeans if I’m in debt from the hemp equipment. That’s a problem.”
UAVs, or drones, are another big area of research for Grand Farm and all of North Dakota. The state leads the unmanned aircraft systems industry as the drone test state.
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“Drones can deliver information to farmers really rapidly, and they provide information you can’t get from the naked eye,” Aderholdt says. “Capabilities like thermal imaging, water flow and elevation – you can use those sensors to tell you something is wrong before you can see it.”
Grand Farm has several goals for the future, including land expansion, looking at indoor and controlled environments, as well as agriculture in space.
Learn more about the initiative at grandfarm.com.