By: Jeff Beach
CASSELTON, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota is investing $7 million into Grand Farm to promote research on robotics, artificial intelligence and other technology for autonomous agriculture.
Greg Tehven, chair of the Grand Farm board, said the top priority is building up the facilities and infrastructure on the research campus west of Casselton.
“It increases our capacity for more testing of technology for farmers, more partners to engage, the ability to have more trials on site and deeper collaboration with both public and private sector,” Tehven said.
The funding is through the state Commerce Department’s Autonomous Agriculture Grant Program. The state Legislature in 2021 made $10 million in federal funds available for the program. Grand Farm was the sole recipient of that grant round.
The money helped build the first building at Grand Farm, a 25,000-square-foot Innovation Shop.
This year, there were 16 applications for $7.5 million made available by the Legislature.
In addition to Grand Farm, the Commerce Department awarded $500,000 to Kansas-based Greenfield Robotics. The company is developing robots to control weeds without using herbicides.
It is one of the companies that have participated in Grand Farm autonomous technology demonstrations.
Robotic weeding, using drones and incorporating data from soil sensors and images to feed into artificial intelligence are some of the components of autonomous farming. The state also has provided money for a program to use drones to scout for weeds.
“We anticipate more application of artificial intelligence solutions that can keep our farms efficient, financially healthy, safe and allow our producers to have the best tool possible to do what’s best for their farm,” said Tehven, co-founder of Emerging Prairie, a Fargo-based technology company.
Miki Miheguli is the director of agronomy and research at the North Dakota Soybean Council who served on a committee that evaluated the grant applications.
“From field-scale research to the infrastructure that enables commercialization, these strategic investments drive cutting-edge technology development and accelerate its real-world adoption, ensuring North Dakota remains at the forefront of agricultural innovation,” Miheguli said in a news release.
Tehven said Grand Farm now has about 80 ag industry partners such as AGCO and North Dakota State University.
He said the next phase of development will help that grow.
“This allows us to attract companies’ investments and deeper research activity right here in our backyard,” Tehven said.
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