NSF AgTech Engine in North Dakota

Award ID: 2315315

The North Dakota Advanced Agriculture Technology Engine will advance our nations capacity for innovation in advanced agriculture by driving research and commercialization efforts to increase the growth of existing crops, introducing new crops, and monitoring and optimizing crop growth in North Dakota. The NSF Engines focus on combining advanced crop data, genetic data, climate modeling and sensor technologies will surpass the current state of practice and our current capabilities. The unique capacity of this NSF Engine and region will apply cutting-edge technologies to public crops that are critically important to the region and nations economy yet have had underinvestment. The NSF Engine also has the potential to drive regional economic impacts through working closely with Indigenous organizations, industry, and economic development leaders. If successful, the innovation ecosystem driven by the NSF Engine will result in unprecedented advances in Agricultural Technology (AgTech) by driving new technologies, industry collaborations, and emerging startup companies; creating good jobs across a variety of emerging technologies; and generating economic opportunity. The NSF Engine will initially focus on the following topic areas related to advancing agriculture and the transition to a real-time monitoring and analysis approach: (1) novel genomics studies; (2) advanced predictive climate modeling; (3) scalable on-farm data collection management and utilization including reconfigurable agile data sensor networks; (4) communication networks, edge and cloud computing, real-time analysis of acquired data via artificial intelligence and machine learning, with a focus on last acre connectivity; and (5) diffusion of AgTech innovation. The NSF Engine is assembling a cross-sector team to collaboratively address the needs of the agricultural community and industry as the NSF Engine develops and implements advanced AgTech technologies. This approach will help retain North Dakotas next-generation farmers and technologists as well as attracting talent regionally and nationally. The North Dakota Advanced Agriculture Technology Engine, led by North Dakota State University, includes an ecosystem of partners with representation from the large agricultural companies, technology companies, farmers, universities (including Tribal Colleges and Universities, and two- and four-year institutions), regional and statewide economic and workforce development organizations (including Engine core partners Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation and the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber Foundation), Tribal organizations, and innovation testbeds. This coalition of partners will be central to R&D, translation, and workforce development efforts. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Jessie Dearo