Future Farmer July/Aug 2023

JULY/AUGUST 2023

COMPLIMENTARY

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FEATURING

COVER STORY

CONTENTS 10

GRAND FARM DATA HUB

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SUPPORTING THE NEXT GENERATION OF THE AGRICULTURE WORKFORCE

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THE UNIQUE CHALLENGES OF OPERATING A FARM TODAY

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DISCOVER THE GRAND FARMER PODCAST INTERVIEWS!

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ELEVATED TO NEW LEADERSHIP POSITIONS FOR GRAND FARM

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NSF ENGINES FARMS PARTNERSHIP GROUP REACH SEMIFINAL ROUND FOR GROUNDBREAKING GRANT

EMERGING PRAIRIE

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July/August 2023 Volume 4 Issue 4

Future Farmer Future Farmer is published 6 times a year and is direct mailed to farmers throughout North Dakota and Minnesota. Find us online at Futurefarmermag.com.

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Grand Farm Data Hub

Unleashing Agriculture's Data Potential

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n one field, there is an almost endless amount of data points that can be collected. From soil sensors to crop health to drone and satellite imagery, data can be collected, leading to terabytes of data for just one field. That leaves the question: what do you do with all that data?

To help solve this challenge, Grand Farm recently announced its Data Hub, a central repository of public data that can help find, store, consolidate, and create agriculture data.

Read along with us as we hear from Microsoft, NDSU, and other tech firms and startups about how this Data Hub can unlock agriculture’s data potential.

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Emerging Prairie

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Data is the New Oil

By William Aderholdt, Director of Grand Farm

hy do all these darn digital tools never work on my farm?!”

This phrase is uttered by almost every farmer who interacts with agriculture technology. That begs the question: How can the industry make better and more user-friendly digital products for everyday farmers?

Data is often referred to as the “new oil.” We hear it all the time across every industry but especially in the modern era of agriculture. So many digital tools have, and are, coming out for farmers and ranchers. Some of these tools are to collect data, and some are made to utilize that collected data. However, throughout agriculture, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly—a wide spectrum of quality and relevancy.

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Farmers and ranchers have different amounts of success when using these tools, leading to a loss of trust when a tool is marketed as complete. A reason for this is that digital tools are often marketed as a one-size-fits-all solution, not taking into account the uniqueness of each farm or ranch environment. Not all farm implements work the same on each field, why should data?

It is for this reason that Grand Farm is launching the Grand Farm Data Hub. This is a tool for anyone in agriculture to find, store, consolidate, and create agriculture data.

With all agriculture public data at the fingertips of technology developers, marketed digital tools will be more relevant and effective for each individual farm and ranch. The Grand Farm Data Hub is connecting technologists to the metaphorical oil wells, connecting

the oil wells together, and bringing together the oil into a standard product. We also foresee, in the future, giving farmers and ranchers the ability to add their own data to the Grand Farm Data Hub, where companies can pay farmers directly for the data they utilize.

If data is the new oil, it has to be refined in order to be valuable. Each farm or ranch needs its own custom product to fit the unique needs of their operation. Doing this is extremely difficult. To make a digital tool that uses artificial intelligence, it has to be given nearly every single scenario in order to provide a relevant solution. Artificial intelligence works by finding patterns in information, and making sense of that pattern. This requires a vast amount of data representing all of the farms and ranches the tool is meant to be applied to. Collecting this data is extremely timeconsuming and expensive, requiring people, access to land, and time.

For decades, the US Department of Agriculture and universities across the country have been collecting data.

Once research is completed with the collected data, it is often packed away and stored online. Since this data was collected using tax dollars, it is often provided to the public for free use with few exceptions. Each package of data is called a data set. Individual data sets aren’t exactly hard to find, but finding and bringing together multiple of these sets is extremely difficult. This is because, unlike oil, there are no standards for data. Data comes in all shapes and sizes, even if it was collected for exactly the same thing.

Grand Farm entered this conversation in 2019. There was a two-day conversation at the Microsoft Campus in Fargo, North Dakota called “Big Data, Big Ideas.” Stakeholders from both the agriculture and technology industry were brought together to discuss what to do with this data to advance the industry. There were conversations about data standards, data privacy, data security, and data ownership. Since then, Grand Farm has been working regularly towards bringing together the technology and agriculture industry to solve these challenges.

This Future Farmer issue focuses on the experience growers, startups, corporations, and higher education researchers have in the development and utilization of artificial intelligence tools for agriculture. Throughout the article, we will examine different cases of how this concept can advance agtech.

• Kirkwall, a startup from North Dakota, will talk about the importance of data in protecting farms from cyber threats. They will show how the Data Hub can provide the information needed to build robust security measures.

• Dr. Rex Sun, an Associate Professor at NDSU, will highlight the significance of collecting data for developing artificial intelligence tools.

• Intellias, a global technology solutions provider, will explain how they are working with Grand Farm to make the Data Hub user-friendly and accessible for the entire industry.

We invite you, a stakeholder of agriculture, to provide thoughts and feedback on the Grand Farm Data Hub at grandfarm.com. We also host dozens of events throughout the year open to participation both at the Grand Farm Innovation Campus and online.

Sincerely, William Aderholdt Director of Grand Farm

• Mark Ottis, a farmer from Kindred, North Dakota, will share his experience of using decision-making tools to increase crop yields.

• Microsoft will discuss their efforts in developing digital tools specifically for agriculture.

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How to Build a Time Machine An Interview with Mark Ottis, a North Dakota Grower

armers only have around 40 chances to be successful. They have 40 growing seasons and 40 years to create a routine, customize a system, and learn from their mistakes to build a successful growing career before they retire.

Mark Ottis, a North Dakota farmer, has been farming for decades. He believes that there is nothing you cannot know if you can ask the right question, and by applying his curiosity to his fields, he has created

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wealth, shared knowledge, and invested in the farm of the future.

Mark has explored what data collection, data privacy, and technology could look like on his farm, but amidst technology surges in AgTech and innovation, he describes many challenges to overcome before they can be practically applied to a farm.

He refutes his curiosity and search for innovation by declaring, “Everything we have is what the caveman had. The only thing they didn’t have was knowledge.”

Knowledge is Meant To Be Shared Mark believes that knowledge isn’t worth anything unless it is shared: you have to give it away to get it back. In agriculture, knowledge equals data. Acquiring data from multiple sources enables farmers to make educated decisions based on similar data points from their own field.

However, if data usage and collection is going to affect operations in farming, it has to work 100% of the time.

“We don’t know what the solutions or the problems are, but we’re trying to create a network for those places to come together. Solutions have to scale beyond the farm from which the data is coming, but infrastructure has to be in place for these things to occur.”

“We have roombas for our houses. Why wouldn’t we have them for our fields?”

what they’re not doing, and can find inequalities that might not be seen by the naked eye.

He explained that, “Right now, the process of data collection might be more valuable than the result.

However, with data collected and built up over time, endless possibilities arise with what could happen with all that knowledge. We’ve collected data that isn’t important.

In many cases, we’re still searching for the best data. The only way to know what information is truly valuable is to share it with others doing the same thing.”

Farmers can use AI to see patterns that are invisible to the human eye.

AI, combined with drone technology, can collect data that increases the productivity of a field and frees up the minds of farmers for other things. But how can this be incorporated into a field where success is dictated by consistent results over time?

“Instinct is the mind’s ability to process information without consciously being aware of it. Artificial intelligence works by finding patterns in information and making sense of it.”

Mark gave one example of this and said that AI could be used by taking pictures from drone technology to send to AI that can then tell what different rows of corn are doing,

Increasing Productivity and Feeding the World Knowledge’s job is to drive the cost of what we produce down. Mark explained, “You’ll make more money if you produce more at a lower input cost and if you understand why some things succeed and why others fail.”

“For example, a field might have microclimates that we don’t understand. There could be dry conditions with strong winds and less production on the sides of the field than in the middle. The air gets moderated as it moved into the thicker part of the field, creating different growing conditions. How do farmers collect, study, and collaborate with the data that comes from that field and optomize the field conditions using the collected data to improve crop productivity?”

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Mark developed a theory around productivity: “If we raise 300 bushel corn in the Red River Valley, the environmental impact per unit will be less than a marginal field that grows 100 bushels per acre. We need these units produced—they’re going to get produced somehow—so they should be produced with an environmentally smaller impact. If you need three acres to do what one can do, you are wasting resources, space, and money.”

Farmers in Minnesota and the Dakotas have a short window to get things done and a long winter to think about how to do it better. The need to get the work done drove innovation, and now, innovation can build a destination for what the future might look like.

Data collected from farmers across the region and the world can give insight and exact predictions for farmers with the same crops, conditions, and concerns to find solutions for their problems before they occur.

How Can the Future be Predicted?

Anyone can predict weather for two weeks. Within a month, it becomes less predictable, but farmers still have a good idea of changes they should make within that timeframe.

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Mark remembers that, “We used to make predictions all at one time, and then change it for the next year, but have found that it is better to make small adjustments along the way rather than all at once. Through making predictions, assessing risk, and gathering percentages and processes for what might happen, we can evaluate risk and probability for the next few weeks, and for the next growing season.”

While evaluating these probabilities in his day-to-day work on his farm, Mark also asks himself the question, “What am I doing today that I just don’t know any better for in the future?”

Sparking Innovation Many great ideas that get stifled because, “that’s not the way we do it.” It takes a disruptor to change all of that.

Eventually, innovation happens. It’s just a matter of who has the initiative to do it first.

AI in Agriculture How Microsoft is Redefining Farming Practices

or the last 45 years, Microsoft has been a leader in technology. With a wide array of products and services, they are now setting their sights on solving some of the most critical challenges in agriculture.

Last month, Mary Snapp, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives with Microsoft, spoke at TEDxFargo. We sat down with her to learn about how the organization is looking at deepening its engagement in the agricultural market. We also met with experts from three Microsoft teams to learn about their specific initiatives.

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• Azure: Cloud services • Project FarmVibes: Network connectivity, edge computing, artificial intelligence, and chatbots for agriculture • Project AirSim: AI-first Simulation Platform to enable autonomy

Geneva Nodland

A Profession, A Lifestyle, and A Future: How Microsoft and AI Inspire the Next Generation of Farmers and Technologists An Interview with Mary Snapp, the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Microsoft

Mary Snapp, the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the Vice Chair and President at Microsoft, stepped onto the red dot at TEDxFargo on July 20 and spoke on the new frontier of artificial intelligence, data, and how Microsoft empowers the already innovative world of agriculture.

Technology has forever been changing the way that we grow food, and growers are at the forefront of a united effort to feed the world. Microsoft has increasingly turned its attention to the growing field of

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AgTech and is looking for ways to feed the world and support farmers through innovation.

Microsoft looks for what other people are passionate about and find ways to invest their technology to enhance the field. They also create new frontiers and look for pioneers to champion new ideas. Recently, the boom of artificial intelligence and the trove of questions that have come alongside this new breakthrough in technology have prompted tech corporations like Microsoft to look for ways to invest in this growing technology industry.

What is Responsible AI, and How Can it Revolutionize Agriculture?

Lately, the world has been introduced to a new branch of AI called generative AI, where computers respond to plain language prompts by pulling from content across a wide dataset to generate text, images, or other media as easy to understand answers in a much quicker amount of time than human abilities. Prompts themselves can be written in natural language. This enhances the human ability to obtain and analyze vast amounts of information and make decisions, which opens the door to endless possibilities with how it can be used in many industries, especially agriculture.

“People in ag choose to do it because it’s what they love, not because it’s what they’re left to do.”

The AI realm continues to expand with various levels of security and accuracy. Bing, Microsoft’s search tool, now incorporates generative AI into search and will answer in sentence format while also providing the source of the information when answering questions. However, guardrails on AI implementation remain imperative, especially concerning data privacy and sensitive use cases. In 2019, Microsoft set up an Office of Responsible AI, part of a company-wide effort to ensure that its AI systems are designed with transparency, safety, privacy, and other principles in mind.

Last month, the White House secured voluntary commitments from Microsoft and other major tech companies to help move toward the safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology. Simultaneously, Europe is enacting regulations to govern AI applications. Setting industry standards requires a combination of efforts involving government, education, academia, and technology.

Mary Snapp speaks at TEDxFargo on July 20, 2023.

Data Interoperability

Educating the Farmers of the Future

Microsoft often works within a broader ecosystem for the collection and analysis of data. In the field of agriculture in particular, it is vital to focus on the interoperability of data, which involves using data from different sources and methods to make conclusions that make the best use of that data.

Three challenges exist in agriculture education: The branding of ag and getting non-farm kids excited about it; supporting educators by providing resources and connections for rural communities; and industry collaboration to promote fields that students might not know about or be interested in.

One of the primary pain points with using data in agriculture is that there are different means of collecting data, but there isn’t one place to synthesize this data and draw insights from it.

Recognizing that scaling innovation across the industry starts with data, Microsoft expanded on earlier research and built Azure Data Manager for Agriculture as a commercial solution to connect farm data from disparate sources, enabling organizations to leverage high-quality datasets and accelerate the development of digital agriculture solutions.

Few outside of agriculture really understand what it is or what life is like for a grower on a farm. The organization FFA is training the next generation by building leadership skills and providing kids with a window into the world of ag.

Another pain point with data collection in agriculture is data ownership. For its own part, Microsoft believes that any data a grower uses or generates with Microsoft technology still belongs to that grower. “Your data is your data,” said Mary.

Maximizing Data to Invest in the Grower Ag is already innovative. Microsoft’s goal is to figure out how to support an already innovative industry with technology. Using data gathered from farm sources will begin to set standards for results so it is clear what is being measured and improvements that are made from that point.

Mary declared, “Agriculture is an art and a science, and if Microsoft could support the science part, that’s what we want to do.”

When asked why she has such an interest in agriculture, Mary reflected on her upbringing in a small town in Kansas. “You find the most extraordinary people in the most ordinary places,” she said. Educating the farmers of the future opens doors to inspire innovation and build trust that can change the world.

Building Trust to Build the Future Farmers do the same thing every year—grow crops. Microsoft looks for the best way to synthesize their information over time to provide easier access to their own data and other insights to show what is possible. Companies like Microsoft should earn the trust of growers through their actions, accountability, and transparency by encouraging growers and industry professionals to check their work and keep them accountable to build the farm of the future.

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Dan DeLong for Microsoft

Andrew Nelson launches a drone from the back of his pickup truck to take multispectral images of a field to document drainage and the amount of fall weeds.

Project FarmVibes We all know the impact agriculture has on the environment.

From greenhouse gas emissions to water usage, agriculture has severe implications for the planet. To address this important issue, Microsoft launched Project FarmVibes with the goal of enabling researchers, practitioners, and data scientists to build affordable digital technologies to help farmers.

We sat down with Ranveer Chandra, Microsoft’s CTO for Agri-Food, to discuss the work they are doing.

Q&A with Ranveer Chandra What are the key challenges Project FarmVibes is aiming to address?

Project FarmVibes is Microsoft Research’s initiative on empowering every farmer with digital tools and hardware resources to help them adopt sustainable agricultural practices.

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Toward this goal, we are making code and resources available to our partners. This initial open-source research toolkit, called FarmVibes.AI, comprises multiple AI-powered workflows and models to enable data-driven agriculture. The goal of the technology is to empower agricultural researchers and data scientists to leverage AI on data to augment agricultural industry knowledge of farming and grow nutritious food in a sustainable way. Data scientists and researchers with agriculture-specific knowledge can use this as a starting point for obtaining new insights and build their AI models and solutions for agriculture and food.

Project FarmVibes is focused on a variety of key technologies: network connectivity, edge computing, artificial intelligence, and chatbots.

How did you settle on these use cases?

There are two key challenges in enabling data-driven agriculture.

First is the ability to collect data from a farm. A recent USDA study showed that close to 60% of US farmland doesn’t have good internet connectivity. We are addressing this challenge by building technologies to connect the farm and ensure that the services can be provided even when connectivity to the cloud is weak using Edge Compute.

The second challenge is to deliver insights based on the data. For this, we need to use Artificial Intelligence to derive the insights, and then use generative AI tools, such as large language models, to make the information usable to farmers—many of whom are not as experienced with these new technologies.

Andrew Nelson studies a FarmVibes.AI image identifying grass weeds in one of his fields. It was created from multispectral drone imagery and will inform Nelson’s treatment decisions later this fall.

Data privacy is a major concern for farmers. How are you ensuring farmer data is protected?

Our system is built on Azure, with the cloud security techniques that make sure that a farmer’s data is secured with the latest security principles. We also use techniques such as Azure Confidential Compute to ensure that the data is not decrypted unless needed.

How will farmers interact directly with FarmVibes?

Although FarmVibes is open-sourced, we do not expect it to be used directly by farmers, unless the farmer is more tech-inclined. Our plan is to make this available to farmers through partners.

What role will AI play in agriculture?

How will farmers interact with AI? The goal of Project FarmVibes is to democratize AI for sustainable agriculture. In order to use AI for sustainable agriculture, we need to get good data, merge different data streams, and combine different AI workflows—all of this while making the pipelines efficient and scalable. Through our research, and this FarmVibes release, we are making three key contributions, which are not available anywhere today: • Making new AI algorithms available, including to see through clouds, predict microclimate, and merge different data streams.

• Making tools for affordable data acquisition available, including TV White Space IoT capabilities, drone

compression, and Edge transfer software.

• Ability to merge different workflows.

We are including several workflows for sustainable agriculture.

The latest advances in AI, such as through generative AI models, are also useful in making insights available to the farmer. A farmer in the middle of the farm with soiled hands can talk to their phone instead of typing on it.

Or a farm worker who cannot read or write can interact with his or her device using the natural language capabilities in chat-based tools. We are bringing the latest in AI to agriculture through Project FarmVibes.

The amount of data collected in agriculture is staggering. On a 1,000 acre-farm, there can be millions of data points collected.

How can the industry collect, organize and make sense of that data?

This is indeed a unique challenge, which is exacerbated by weak internet connectivity in the middle of the farm.

Having the right technology (e.g., for connectivity, and Edge Compute) will be critical in capturing the information.

Building the appropriate AI models will be necessary to translate the data into insights. Additionally, we also need the right governance of the data, and appropriate training to the farmers, so that they know the value of the data, and also develop the skills to use these insights. We are working on some of these through the FarmBeats for Students kits.

Azure In this exclusive interview, we sit down with Anthony Marcello, the Director of Solution Sales at Microsoft, who is responsible for Azure Private 5G Core, Private MEC, and Cloud Computing. Delving into the realm of agriculture, we explore the cutting-edge applications and transformative potential of Microsoft's Azure platform in revolutionizing the agri-tech landscape.

Unveiling insights from the industry expert himself, this article offers a captivating glimpse into the future of farming and how technology is reshaping the way we approach agriculture.

Q&A with Anthony Marcello Explain edge computing in a way farmers will understand.

Edge computing, as the name implies, provides powerful computing power at the farm. This computing power provides two key capabilities—private networking and data processing—that allow farmers to transform their operations with modern connected applications. These specialized computers are part of a distributed network, typically managed from a centralized cloud, to automate and eliminate the management burden of the farmer.

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Edge computing delivers highly reliable, private 4G or 5G coverage directly on the farms to connect video cameras for advanced analytics, automated or remote-controlled farm equipment, and private communications for frontline farm workers. Private 5G networks offer wide coverage which can further connect low-power devices on the field using LoRa, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi gateways for sensor-to-application, machine-to-human, and even machine-to-machine interactions.

Second, edge computing brings powerful data processing to their farms. It helps farmers process large amounts of data such as from soil analytics or real-time video from herbicide sprayers to quickly make decisions without relying on distant servers in the cloud.

With the combination of a private 5G network with local data processing, farmers can reduce delays in data transmission and improve their farm operations while keeping their data secure within their own reliable network. With edge computing, farmers can get real-time insights, optimize resource usage, and automate tasks, ultimately improving productivity and efficiency on their farms.

Edge computing has the possibility to drastically impact agriculture. What are some key challenges edge computing can solve in ag?

Edge computing plays a crucial role in addressing key challenges in agriculture, with connectivity being a significant concern, particularly for farms in remote locations. By enabling on-site data processing, edge computing reduces reliance on constant internet connectivity, ensuring uninterrupted operations in areas with limited network coverage. This is particularly relevant considering

the substantial amount of data generated from sensors, drones, and machinery in farming.

Transferring data to a centralized cloud can strain bandwidth, incur high costs, and prove impractical for many farming needs. Edge computing resolves this challenge by allowing localized data processing and selective data transmission.

This approach minimizes bandwidth requirements and optimizes data management, resulting in efficient and costeffective operations.

Data privacy and security are paramount in agriculture, especially given the sensitivity of data required for precision agriculture applications. Edge computing ensures enhanced data protection by keeping the data within the farm's private network. This significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches, instilling confidence in businesses and farmers regarding data security.

Furthermore, edge computing facilitates real-time analysis and decision-making for autonomous farming systems, leading to improved efficiency and higher yields. This advancement empowers precision agriculture, autonomous machinery, and drone operations, allowing industry experts and farmers to optimize tasks and achieve greater productivity.

In summary, edge computing provides practical solutions to challenges such as latency, connectivity, bandwidth, data security, reliability, and cost efficiency in agriculture. By leveraging this technology, farmers and industry experts can access real-time insights, enhance decision-making processes, and optimize resource utilization, ultimately driving overall improvement in agricultural operations.

Connectivity is a big challenge in ag. While it is a problem for farms to have fiber and good broadband, it’s even more difficult for individual fields to have good connectivity. How will 5G allow for data transfer?

Private 5G networks present a compelling solution to address the connectivity challenges faced by individual fields in agriculture. These networks offer dedicated and localized wireless connectivity, independent of public cellular networks, allowing farmers to establish reliable and tailored high-speed connections.

A significant advantage of private 5G networks is the enhanced security and data privacy they provide. With full control over the network infrastructure, farmers can implement robust security measures to safeguard valuable agricultural data from unauthorized access and cyber threats.

Private 5G networks easily support a large number of IoT devices, which is crucial in the context of agriculture where smart sensors, drones, and autonomous machinery are becoming increasingly prevalent. These networks can efficiently handle hundreds or even thousands of IoT devices simultaneously, facilitating seamless communication and data exchange throughout the agricultural ecosystem.

5G technology is ideal in outdoor environments. Unlike Wi-Fi, which is primarily optimized for indoor settings, 5G offers robust, ubiquitous coverage and connectivity in challenging outdoor agricultural landscapes. It provides wider coverage areas, superior signal penetration through obstacles, and improved reliability, making it well-suited for the diverse and expansive nature of agricultural operations.

By deploying private 5G networks, farmers can establish reliable and high-speed connections directly within their fields. This empowers real-time monitoring, control, and data exchange among a multitude of IoT devices, supporting precision agriculture practices and optimizing resource utilization. With the ability to handle massive data volumes and low latency, private 5G networks can enhance operational efficiency and enable timely decision-making in agricultural operations.

Tell us about the technology we’re hoping to deploy at Grand Farm’s Innovation Campus. How will that technology be used to demonstrate Azure’s applications in ag?

Grand Farm, in partnership with Microsoft, aims to establish a 5G-connected ecosystem of modern applications and technologies that showcase the advantages of Precision Agriculture 2.0 to farmers, businesses, and government officials. This updated concept integrates edge computing and 5G networking, bolstering farm productivity through ubiquitous computing, AI/ML applications, real-time processing, and autonomous agricultural devices. Our efforts together at Grand Farm will highlight three edge computing use cases: • Real-time Crop Monitoring and Precision Agriculture: Leveraging edge computing, we can analyze sensor data (e.g., soil moisture, temperature, and nutrient levels) from crops in real time. This enables farmers to promptly receive insights and make informed decisions regarding irrigation, fertilization, and pest control, ultimately optimizing crop health and yield.

• Autonomous Machinery and Robotic Systems: Edge computing facilitates the deployment of autonomous machinery and robotic systems in agriculture. By processing data locally at the edge, including GPS coordinates, environmental sensors, and machine vision inputs, on-site decision-making becomes possible. This empowers autonomous operations like precision planting, harvesting, and weed detection, enhancing efficiency while reducing labor requirements.

• On-site Processing and Storage of Agricultural Data: Edge computing enables farmers to locally store and process agricultural data, minimizing the need for extensive data transfer to remote servers. This includes historical crop data, weather information, equipment logs, and market trends. On-site data processing ensures quick access to information, improves data security, and supports offline operations when internet connectivity is limited.

These use cases exemplify how edge computing at the farm empowers farmers with real-time insights, enhances automation capabilities, improves decision-making, and optimizes resource utilization across various agricultural operations.

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Project AirSim Ganesh Rao, General Manager for Autonomous Systems

Project AirSim is an AI-first simulation platform to enable autonomy. This new project from Microsoft is starting to explore use cases in agriculture. That’s why we got the chance to talk to Ganesh Rao, General Manager for Autonomous Systems with AirSim, to learn more about the product.

Project AirSim helps customers improve efficiency, increase safety and save money through flexibility, integration, and extensible building blocks that enable autonomous solutions at scale. There are several scenarios in the agriculture domain that can benefit from simulation and autonomous solutions: •

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Yield prediction – By simulating different environmental factors and crop management strategies, farmers can predict potential yields under various conditions for optimizations and market planning.

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Precision Agriculture – Aerial simulation can assist with precision agriculture by providing accurate spatial data. By simulating different variable rate application maps for fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides, farmers can optimize the specific areas within a field yielding better crop performance.

•

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Crop Monitoring – Aerial simulation can allow farmers to collect high-resolution aerial imagery on their crops which can be used to monitor their health, identify nutrient deficiencies, detect pests or diseases, assess the impacts of environmental factors such as rains, droughts, etc., and assess irrigation needs.

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Risk Assessment and Insurance – Aerial simulation can help assess and manage risks in agriculture. By simulating different weather events, such as storms, droughts, or floods, farmers can evaluate their potential impact on

crops and make informed decisions regarding insurance coverage and risk mitigation strategies.

Simulation is at the heart of building autonomy. The ability to generate contextual, diverse datasets is especially critical in scenarios where safety is of the highest importance. Project AirSim provides a comprehensive set of AI tools to accelerate autonomous transformation.

Project AirSim allows customers to perform high-fidelity 3D simulations at scale, customize pre-trained AI models, run perception simulations using a variety of sensors on robots, and unlock value across a multitude of scenarios in several domains, including agriculture.

When an entire farm is accurately represented as a digital twin, simulation enables customers to model scenarios as optimization problems to monitor the health of a farm, reduce risks, improve yield, and enable learning and experimentation.

The modular and extensible architecture of Project AirSim allows users to do exactly this—APIs to easily configure scenes, sensors, robots, test cases, generate synthetic data at scale, and integration with digital twins—to effectively solve optimization problems via simulation. Project AirSim takes advantage of generative AI and natural language to simplify the complexity of simulation and modeling, helping to democratize the technology to people that may not have AI expertise or specific programming skills.

Today agriculture is undergoing a digital transformation, where data-driven technologies are revolutionizing farming practices. Microsoft Project AirSim and Grand Farm look forward to collaborate in leveraging technology to advance farms of the future.

Breaking Down Data Silos: How Grand Farm's Data Hub is Transforming Agriculture magine this: You’re a mechanical engineer who grew up on the farm and has been working for a drone company for the last 10 years. With your farm background, you’ve seen firsthand how drones can help a farmer with their operations. However, you know that there is still a long road to go before large-scale autonomous drones are doing mass aerial spraying. But, you think you might be able to get there.

As a farm kid, you know the challenges farmers face that can be addressed by these kinds of sprayers.

• Ineffective input application • Excessive chemical usage • High cost of labor • Soil compaction • Too many tasks in a day

You begin your work. You start to build out the software to identify weeds from crops, you develop the hardware

to effectively spray in all kinds of weather conditions (including that North Dakota wind) and you start to build out the business model and team.

However, you quickly run into roadblocks because of the data silos that exist within agriculture.

These data silos are like separate grain storage bins on your farm, where each bin holds a specific type of crop, but you can't easily mix or share the crops between bins. Similarly, in technology development, data silos are separate places where different information is stored, making it hard to use and combine the data effectively for better decision-making.

You need access to data where you can train your software to complete tasks like spraying speed to wind conditions, identifying weeds from crops, and completing numerous other tasks.

Grand Farm’s Data Hub will allow you to access publicly available data that you can build this model off of. Check out the different services that the Data Hub will give you access to.

About Intellias Grand Farm worked with Intellias to develop the Data Hub. Intellias is a global technology partner to Fortune 500 enterprises and top-tier organizations, helping them accelerate their pace of sustainable digitalization. Intellias empowers businesses operating in Europe and the US, as well as the Middle East to embrace innovation at scale.

Intellias specializes in AgriTech, where it revolutionizes farming paradigms and introduces transformative solutions. By enabling data-driven decisions and increasing profitability for farmers, Intellias benefits both established industry leaders and cutting- edge startups. The company’s commitment to

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fostering long-term sustainability in Agriculture plays a crucial role in shaping the future of farming.

Beyond Agriculture, Intellias contributes to global impact through R&D partnerships, collaborating with NASA to cultivate plants in space and supporting biotech efforts in combating tropical disease.

With a strong track record in delivering transformative solutions, Intellias remains committed to empowering businesses, shaping the future of Agriculture, and driving sustainable growth.

Check out the Data Hub • Search: You can search for data related to specific use cases in agriculture. For example, you can search for research studies on “Efficient Drone Fertilizer Spraying in Precision Agriculture.” These studies will help you build out your model.

• Filter: You’ll be able to filter all your search options so you can search data specifically relating to your need. For example, you can search for weed imagery from 2020-2023.

• Research results: The research results will show up based on your filters. This will give you quick access to the data you can use for development. The search results will also allow other users to rate the data. For example, the “Efficient Drone Fertilizer Spraying in Precision Agriculture” was rated a 9 out of 10.

• Algorithms: Based on the data results, if there are any algorithms publicly available, you will be able to run those algorithms right in the Data Hub.

• Use cases: You will be able to create different workspaces for various use cases so you can run different workspaces, allowing you to find data for a variety of use cases.

• Workspace: This is where you can work with the different data sets that you have brought into the Grand Farm Data Hub to bring them all together into a single silo to develop your model.

• Resources: The Resources tab allows you to upload your own data to the site and filter based on what you’d like to include in simulations.

• Scenarios: Based on the data you’ve searched for, you can run different scenarios and simulations using different algorithms. You will then be able to see if the tests are successful or not.

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• Radio Access Network (RAN): The RAN will be located on a pole, similar to that used by cell phone companies. It will have multiple private 5G networks connected to it, connecting every square foot of the Grand Farm. The privacy component of the network is crucial, particularly in a research setting.

Information transferred on this network is proprietary and has to be protected to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse by competitors or other unauthorized parties. To facilitate this private network, only those with special SIM cards provided by DCN will have access.

Seth Arndorfer, CEO of Dakota Carrier Network

• Leveraging the CBRS spectrum: CBRS, or Citizens Broadband Radio Service, is licensed through the Federal Communications Commission. This “spectrum” is a radiofrequency that carries data. DCN purchased spectrum from the FCC for the entire state of North Dakota in anticipation of needing connectivity for efforts like precision ag, and the Grand Farm is the first use case of the spectrum.

The Infrastructure to Power Precision Ag

• Connection to a core: DCN will provide connection to a core that manages and runs the system. The Core is a cloud-based network element that provides secure, private network segmentation and authentication functions for the various users of the system. This core is located off-site, which provides additional security and geographic diversity to safeguard from natural or man-made disasters.

ot all that long ago, the work being done through precision agriculture was just the stuff of ag producers’ dreams. Things like variable rate technology to optimize inputs when seeding, fertilizing, or applying pesticides; using crop sensors to evaluate conditions during the growing season; or monitoring yield data in real-time during harvest were unheard of.

But the research to make these technologies part of the typical operation is being done today at the Grand Farm.

Groups ranging from higher education to private enterprise are making great advances, figuring out ways to utilize technology to improve yields and profitability. To do this, internet connectivity is crucial. That’s where Dakota Carrier Network (DCN) comes in. DCN is the partner providing the connectivity to make this research possible. There are four primary components to DCN’s connectivity at Grand Farm: • Gigabit fiber feeding the farm: The Grand Farm will be served via a fiber optic gigabit connection. This fiber connection will not only serve the Innovation Campus with high capacity, low latency connectivity, it will also be used to provide state-of-the-art connectivity supporting the wireless needs of the Grand Farm.

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This network will tie together the entire ecosystem of the Grand Farm, enabling the research that is critical to maintaining North Dakota’s position as a leader in agriculture.

Agriculture is becoming more intertwined with technology through things like sensors and self-driving automation, and all of that requires connectivity to the furthest reaches of the farm. It’s research like this that will help North Dakota producers maintain strong, profitable operations and the state continue to be a leader in agriculture.

The benefits of precision ag will reach well beyond enhancing productivity. Advancements in precision ag will have broad effects on economic development, bringing new, innovative organizations and well-established international companies to North Dakota. Just as important, it will bring positive effects to small town main street, allowing others in the farming family to have outside careers and still live at the farm; increasing demand for skilled workers and keeping young people in the state; and benefitting hometown businesses from gas stations to grocery stores to implement dealers.

DCN is the result of the vision of North Dakota’s 13 independent telephone (now broadband) companies. In the 1990s, as the internet was first emerging, they realized that for our rural state to thrive, we would need to be connected to this new technology.

But the innovations and research that DCN’s connectivity enables at the Grand Farm may have been beyond their wildest dreams.

With precision ag, there are many great things to come that will allow producers to work more efficiently and effectively to grow the industry and North Dakota.

William S. Cromarty

Low res Founder William S. Cromarty poses with Kirkwall's new name plate at the NDSU Research and Technology Park

The Kirkwall team poses together at an event

Securing the Prairie: The Five Key Ways Machine Learning Will Defend AgTech

By William S. Cromarty, CEO & Founder at Kirkwall

achine learning (ML) is poised to revolutionize the agricultural technology sector, enabling farmers to make data-driven decisions, reduce machinery downtime, and increase crop yield while defending against the growing risk of cyberattacks by hostile nations.

Over the coming year, America’s farmers are expected to experience over $3 billion in losses due to unexpected downtime of agricultural equipment, with an additional $1.2 billion in excess emergency repair

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costs. About 53% of farmers have experienced lost crops due to these breakdowns, with these costs being so severe for 33% of farmers that they feared losing their family farm as a result. With the rising wave of cyberattacks and ransomware on AgTech companies and their equipment—noted by the FBI as one of their top national security concerns for 2023—the cost to farmers is only expected to rise. As a result, the integration of ML algorithms into Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled agricultural equipment becomes not only a benefit to farmers and AgTech machinery manufacturers but a necessity for five key reasons:

1. Data-Driven Decision Making: Machine learning

algorithms excel in analyzing vast amounts of agricultural data and extracting valuable insights while detecting anomalies. In agriculture, ML can process data from weather patterns, soil conditions, crop health, and machinery performance to provide farmers with precise recommendations and real-time notifications of critical issues. By leveraging historical data and real-time inputs, AI and ML algorithms can offer predictions for optimal planting times, irrigation schedules, and the appropriate use of fertilizers and pesticides. These data-driven insights empower farmers to make informed decisions, maximize crop yield, and minimize resource wastage, leading to increased profitability.

2. Enhanced Security: Cyberattacks on agricultural

machinery are increasingly common, with recently publicized attacks on Israeli irrigation systems to alter water flow rates and volume; multiple major agricultural machinery manufacturers have critical vulnerabilities well-known by the security community but undisclosed to customers. Given the time-critical nature of planting and harvest windows, farmers are uniquely vulnerable to timed attacks on their infrastructure. The tremendous benefits of smart agricultural equipment, sprayer drones, and IoT sensor systems can only be unlocked if paired with ML-based analysis to identify anomalous behavior that may be indicative of a cyberattack or hostile compromise. By deploying these solutions on board AgTech equipment at the manufacturer level, farmers will gain the peace of mind that cutting-edge AgTech equipment is trustworthy, worth the investment, and will increase yield.

3. Predictive Maintenance: Unexpected breakdowns result

in billions of dollars per year of costly downtime and reduced crop yield. The use of ML algorithms on sensormonitored critical machinery components allows for advance notice of part failures days to weeks ahead of time. This approach reduces emergency maintenance costs and ensures uninterrupted farming operations.

4. Predictive Analytics: By combining historical weather

forecasts and market trends, ML algorithms can offer insights into demand patterns, price fluctuations, and optimal harvesting times. This information empowers farmers to make well-informed decisions regarding crop selection, storage, and distribution, thereby increasing profitability and crop yield while minimizing waste.

5. Resource Optimization: ML algorithms can optimize

resource allocation and promote sustainable practices.

By analyzing sensor data and historical information, ML can help farmers determine the precise amount of water, fertilizer, and other resources required for optimal crop growth in a manner that allows spot-spraying and treatment of specific areas at a time when pesticide and fertilizer costs are at an all-time high.

Kirkwall's setup within the NDSU Research and Technology Park

Machine learning is transforming agriculture by offering data-driven decision-making, defending America’s food supply chain from enemy nations, enabling predictive maintenance of critical components, and providing predictive analytics for IoT-enabled agricultural equipment. The incorporation of ML algorithms into smart agricultural equipment has become increasingly critical and serves as the best means to build trust in cutting-edge AgTech equipment at a time when autonomous farming operations are a promising answer to critical labor shortages.

About William S. Cromarty William S. Cromarty is a former CIA officer and the CEO and Founder of Kirkwall, a Fargo-based software company that leverages Machine Learning to defend autonomous systems from critical failure. Kirkwall’s algorithm enables cyberattack detection, diagnostic monitoring, and preventative maintenance for UAVs, IoT-enabled AgTech, and industrial control systems.

Kirkwall was founded in 2022 by a team of former CIA officers and special operations personnel; the company recently completed the NSF Great Plains I-Corps program, graduated from the Gener8tor gBeta investment accelerator, and currently operates out of the NDSU Technology Incubator.

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The event space will accommodate roughly 300 people and is designed to host events hosted by Grand Farm, the community, and their partners.

Grand Farm Innovation Campus rand Farm is building an Innovation Campus just west of Casselton, North Dakota.

The campus is being designed in a way where growers, industry professionals, and researchers will collaborate to deliver innovative solutions and to demonstrate and research the latest in agriculture technology.

Below are some renderings of the Innovation Shop, which will be the first building constructed and is estimated to open in May 2024.

Address 3729 153rd Ave SE, Wheatland, ND

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Grand Farm’s Innovation Campus is 140 acres and is designed for growers, startups, corporations, researchers, and education groups to collaborate on technology. The campus is designed to demonstrate and research new products and technologies. The first building that will be constructed is the Innovation Shop on the north end of the campus.

The Innovation Shop is being designed around use cases including: • Shop space (left-side) for our partners to collaborate and work on equipment and products.

• Collaborative space (middle) with board rooms and offices for meetings, school groups, and presentations.

• Event space (right) to accommodate up to 300 people with large garage doors to allow equipment demonstrations.

The outdoor amphitheater is also designed to allow interactive demonstrations.

The design is intentional to allow natural light in, with large windows to view the field.

The shop will be a collaborative space for partners to collaborate with growers, researchers, and other groups.

Emerging Prairie

Grand Farm’s Autonomous Nation Conference Tuesday, August 29 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Microsoft Fargo Campus and Grand Farm Innovation Campus

f you’re interested in learning more about this concept, Grand Farm will be publicly launching this concept at their Autonomous Nation Conference on Tuesday, August 29 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Read more about the conference below and you can get your ticket at grandfarm.com/ autonomous-nation.

Mission: Connect the autonomous industry with policymakers at the forefront of the autonomous revolution.

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What it is: Autonomous Nation is a full-day conference bringing together the best and brightest minds in the autonomous industry. Join policymakers from all levels, industry entrepreneurs, and innovators at the forefront of the autonomous revolution.

From tackling workforce shortages to eliminating inefficiencies and bridging technology gaps, this conference will showcase the latest innovations and solutions that will shape the future of our industry.

Audience: Industry entrepreneurs, innovators, influential stakeholders, including policymakers from various levels, and individuals curious about the fascinating world of the autonomous industry.

If you go: The conference will be broken up into two sections. In the morning, there will be formal presentations, panels, and keynote speeches from industry experts. In the afternoon, we will go out to Grand Farm’s Innovation Campus for demonstrations. The demonstrations will be free and open to the public.

Speakers include • Senator Hoeven • David Black—Executive Vice President, Enterprise Transformation, and Chief Information Officer at CHS

There will be demonstrations at Grand Farm’s Innovation Campus from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, August 29.

This is free and open to the public. Grand Farm’s Innovation Campus is located at 3729 153rd Ave SE, Wheatland, ND.

• Microsoft’s Airsim, Azure, and FarmVibes • Volker Fabian—Pyka • and many more!

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Emerging Prairie

Onlookers observe soil data collection at the Grand Farm.

Dr. Rex Sun (far right) participates in demonstrations on the Grand Farm.

5 Ways Access To Data Can Help With Ag Research recision agriculture, once a distant dream for agriculturalists and farmers, is now becoming a reality. Access to quality data informs and enables agricultural research and farm productivity. However, without reliable collection methods, data sources, and storage systems, researchers don’t have access to the data that could change the way we grow food.

Dr. Rex Sun, an associate professor at NDSU, examines the significance of data collection for using artificial intelligence tools in his research. Dr. Sun and his students collect their own data for their projects, but he shares how a centralized, shared data source would revolutionize data collection and technology development across the field.

1. Data Collection: Digital tools are revolutionizing data collection methods. Researchers are developing techniques to manage and analyze these data sets efficiently, but one of their primary problems is that farmers and researchers gather data in different ways, making it difficult to compare information.

2. Data Access: Satellite data, just like drone, crop, and soil data, is free and accessible to anyone. There is just one catch—farmers have to know how to access it. One of the main challenges of accessing data within agriculture is that sources do not communicate, making it difficult to compile free, available data.

3. Data Connectivity: Farmers need their data to be processed in real-time in the field. They do not have time

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to wait for faulty equipment or test runs that require breaks.

Edge computing provides a way for farmers to connect to the nearest data source to upload their information to.

4. Data Storage: Cloud storage solutions offer reliable and scalable options for researchers and farmers alike. By leveraging cloud services, data can be securely stored and processed, providing more accessible and centralized data sources.

5. Data Usage: Dr. Sun’s research focuses on weed control, utilizing drone technology, and advanced imaging techniques. Dr. Sun developed an AI tool using a USDAinitiated open-source database called ImageWeeds. This tool allows farmers to precisely target and combat specific weed problems in their fields.

What does the future look like?

Grand Farm’s goal to create a publicly available open-source database would help startups, corporations, and researchers access data produced by researchers and open doors for the digital agriculture community to access high-quality data and solve challenges faced by growers.

Artificial intelligence works by finding patterns in information and making sense of those patterns. In order to build an effective artificial intelligence tool, it must be given data from nearly every use case scenario involving that specific set of information. Collecting and accessing this data is extremely time-consuming and requires extensive resources, but it creates opportunities for farmers, researchers, and technologists to collaborate for the farm of the future.

We often hear about the lack of agricultural education within our schooling systems. Though some places have thorough resources for kids and teens looking to go into the agriculture industry, many schools do not. This is one reason why the Northern Crops Institute (NCI), in conjunction with North Dakota State University agriculture professors and experts, has designed a new summer agriculture experience for high school students. The inaugural Summer Ag Academy—which took place from June 13 through June 16— brought teens from all over the country to NDSU’s campus, where they took a deep dive into the world of agriculture and learned about potential career opportunities. I spoke with the Northern Crops Institute’s Program Development Manager Casey Peterson to learn more about the goals of the academy and what it will do to improve access to ag education.

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Prior to the creation of the NCI Summer Ag Academy, the Director of the Institute, Mark Jirik, had gotten some feedback from those in the agriculture industry that there was a shortage in the younger workforce. As much of the current workforce reaches retirement age, it has become more important than ever to generate interest in agriculture among the younger generations. In the Midwest, with agriculture at the forefront of our economy, it is a great place to show young people the intricacies of the industry.

“We're uniquely positioned to do this. We serve North Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana primarily, but we work with a lot of people internationally and across the US, as well. Because of that, we have a lot of resources to pull together and share with students to give them a unique experience,” Program Development Manager Casey Peterson said.

With the knowledge and resources to educate young people on the plethora of career opportunities related to agriculture, the NCI came up with the idea to host up to 60 high school students on NDSU’s campus to learn about the complexity of agricultural careers. In the development process for the academy, the team came up with three primary tracks that the

students could choose from: International Trade and Policy, Food Science, and Animal Science.

any student who was interested in ag, regardless of their experience with the track they chose.

“All of the curriculum was developed by Brooke Thiel, who’s a professor in ag education at NDSU. It is a very active, handson experience. It is also very fast-paced,” Peterson said.

To sweeten the deal even further, NCI was able to offer the option for students to receive two college credits towards a future degree upon completion of the Academy. While this was optional, it added another reason for students to join in on this educational opportunity—and ultimately more motivation for students to learn about agriculture.

In order to make this program as accessible as possible and to attract students who may not be otherwise interested in agriculture, NCI decided to make this program completely free to the students, as well. The academy was open to

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June 13 came around, and 44 students from around the United States embarked on their new agricultural journey.

After settling in on Tuesday night, their Wednesday and Thursday were jam-packed with hands-on educational activities, classroom learning, facility tours, and lectures. At the end of each instructional day, students were asked to debrief and discuss what they learned throughout their day.

On Wednesday’s debrief session and afternoon lecture, the general consensus was that agriculture is way more complex than most of them had originally thought. The students were quick to connect their experiences to the world around them.

With some help from NCI staff and other industry experts, the students also began to see that agriculture was more than just farming out on a field by yourself.

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Throughout the course of just three days, students were able to learn enough to count the experience as two college credits—a crazy number, considering a full semester-long course is typically three or four credits!

“Dr. Thiel worked hard on making sure that the number of hours that they were in the classroom and/or with an instructor, along with any types of projects that we were having them do, would meet the requirements for those credits,” Peterson said.

Though many students seemed a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information that had been given on their first full day of the academy, most had something to contribute when asked about the key takeaways from their educational experiences of the day. And within those 72 hours on NDSU’s campus, the students walked away with a whole new set of skills and knowledge that most their age will not have. Ideally, they’ll tell their friends about it and get more people interested in it for next year!

Now that the first NCI Summer Ag Academy has come to a close and the students have gone home with a renewed interest in agriculture, the future of the Summer Ag Academy is looming. Will it be back next year? Peterson and the NCI team think so.

“Our hope is that we'll do it here for another year or two,” Peterson said. “We want to host it here for a while to make sure it continues to be successful, but we also partner with land grant institutions in each state that we work with. Eventually, we would like to rotate the locations so that we can serve our states a little bit better and reach more of our region.”

The ultimate goal is to establish this as a more permanent program in the Midwest to help generate interest in ag and bolster the workforce more than ever before.

After a successful first run, the NCI Summer Ag Academy is well on it’s way to becoming a vital educational resource for the Midwest and beyond!

| 1240 Bolley Dr, Fargo | (701) 231-7736 | northern-crops.com | /NorthernCropsInstitute | @NCI_NDSU | @northerncropsinstitute

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Kathi Luther

Grower in Cass County, ND

Shelby Lyons

Grower in Ransom County, ND

Quinn Renfandt

Grower in Ward County, ND

The Unique Challenges of Operating a Farm today Hear from Grand Farm’s Grower Advisory Board about the big issues in agriculture right now!

By Sam Kise

e

Photos provided by Grand Farm

ach year, Grand Farm releases a pain point report about the issues most important to farmers in our region.

Though you can get a general idea of what farmers are facing from this report, each farmer is going to have their own perspective on the problems they experience in their operation. To gain some insight into the variety of 44

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perspectives a person might get from each farming operation, I sat down with Kathi Luther, Shelby Lyons, and Quinn Renfandt of Grand Farm’s Grower Advisory Board and asked them about the pain points that are relevant to their operations—which also may be relevant to you and your business or operation.

Read more from these growers below!

Inside Scoop on the Big Issues What are some barriers you’ve seen between the agtech industry and growers in recent years?

Kathi Luther: There are a lot of wonderful innovations coming down.

But on our level, we want to know—is it going to be affordable for our farm? A lot of growers always have that concern about the cost of new technology. We also want to know: am I going to get service behind any new innovation or any new ag product? As the owner of K&S Seed, I always am concerned about that balancing act between the cost to the grower, the benefit it's going to bring to the grower, and whether or not it is something that they need on their farm. I've been very fortunate to be a buffer between me and my growers. A lot of times, I get those questions answered before something new comes on the market.

source. Maybe we'll have to go to automated farming in order to be sustainable.

Shelby Lyons: With all of the technology that we have on our planter right now, sometimes we run into GPS issues. That can be a big issue that forces our planters to sit because we can’t be precise. We need that GPS to be as precise as we can. When the GPS goes down, just being able to get a hold of people for questions in a timely manner and getting them to contact us back right away is often difficult. With a lot of the new technology, it’s super helpful, but we [growers] like to see it proven first. It also has to be cost-effective. Because if it's not, then what's the point?

My husband and I have been farming for 42 years together. Service has always been a big issue. There are a lot of products that have come out throughout the years, but if they don’t have service backing them, they're going to fail.

For example, what works out west won't work here because farming is just so different in every region. So it not only has to be proven effective, it has to be proven to be effective in our area for us to give it a try. Or, sometimes we’ll try something out if it sounds like a really, really good deal to us—but not on the whole planter. If there's new technology we want to try out, we'll put it on part of the planter and not the other part just to see [what happens].

In terms of automated farming and increasing use of technology, I think there's a place for that. I think there's going to be a few years before we get to that. From what I've seen, there are a lot of hiccups to overcome yet. There are some jobs, like digging a field, which is perfect for automated farming. If you have four-mile-long rows, for example.

Or maybe even a side hill, because nobody wants to get in a tractor and farm that side hill. But we're short on labor, just like the rest of the world is, and it's going to come down to that. We need help. We need a labor

There are also just a lot of startups around that we don't know about.

They need to somehow get their brand out where the growers are listening, like on the radio. Maybe if they did something at the Big Iron Farm Show because around here, every farmer and their brother goes to Big Iron. Our agronomist brings a lot of different things to us, too, if he thinks it will be good for our farms. But right now, there's a lack of communication between the startups and the people whom they want to interact with and market their products.

Kathi’s comment about needing automated farming is not wrong—the automated agriculture industry has been growing significantly in recent years. According to the Association of Advancing Automation, “the global agricultural robots market size [was] $4.9 billion in 2021… this is expected to grow to $11.9 billion by 2026, at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.3%.”

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Quinn Renfandt: I think they touched on it in the report quite well. The issue is the high adoption costs and the lack of access to the latest technology.

When I say lack of access, I mean access to startups wanting to test their product. Not even necessarily a robot. I would love to have a robot that would go around and look at the pests and everything on my plants. But not a lot of [startup] companies can afford to just give out one to go test it and give feedback on it. So I think that's a challenge with probably any startup in any industry.

More specifically with this [industry], unless the people that are building that product have some type of farming or another ag-specific background, they're going to need to test it out in a real-world environment. If they don't have an actual product to put into practice yet, then it's difficult for me, as a grower, to give feedback on how easy [the product] made my life or didn't make my life because I don't have the actual equipment or software.

I would say that the [startups] that I've worked with are very intimately tied to their product and know it inside and out. If anything, they give you too much information. I do know of other technologies—especially from larger companies—where when it comes trickling down, they may not have the staff to be there to answer every single individual question in a timely manner, or to be able to come out to the field and be there for you. Especially when they're not anywhere local.

That's always a challenge.

A lot of growers are wanting that tactile, in-person

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communication, or they see that something's wrong and they want the companies to be able to come to fix it and make the problem go away. A lot of startups probably can't do that right now, because they don’t have the resources for it yet.

Are there any big things happening with agriculture in the government right now that you’ve seen? How do they impact your farm?

Kathi: Our biggest source of help from the government is federal crop insurance, and I hope they don't do anything [to change it]. Because right now, I think it's working fairly well. We rely on federal crop insurance. I'm sure they're always going to tweak and improve certain areas, but for the most part, I believe that it’s working.

Getting technology through the EPA, that's a big struggle, too. I wish we could figure out more of a streamlined way to do that.

Shelby: I feel like there's a disconnect between our operation and what’s happening in the government. We don't agree with a lot of things, but we just stay in our little part of the world out here and ignore it, to a point. The only government that we really deal with is taxes and the FSA office.

We don’t really have a problem in this area with many government

regulations. The spring regulations for planting and all that—it's difficult sometimes to get everything in [on time]. There are spraying windows for certain chemicals, but they're in place for a good reason.

We have cattle, too. At one point, we wanted to build a barn. But then we have a little silo right next to it, and we would have had to make a bunker, basically, for runoff.

That just doesn't make sense for our operation. Those kinds of regulations don't make a lot of sense to us.

Quinn: There are so many different levels to policymaking: where the government is located, their understanding of technology, their people, their growers, their county, and more. When you have the corporation come in and set up a policy that allows their technology to be utilized, that's one thing. But whether that technology is relevant for your on-the-ground growers at the time is an entirely different thing. So I see this separation between the grower and those that are influencing the policy regarding where the agriculture industry is and where it is heading.

There are a lot of challenges that a grower may see that they believe should be addressed in the more immediate sense, and that may not happen because their voice either isn't as big or loud, or they’re “behind the times,” so to speak. I'll use an example. They did a thing where they're putting broadband internet everywhere. And I think that's fantastic. I think that's an absolutely necessary technology and that [the younger] generation is totally aware of why that's relevant and that it needs to happen. But you have an older generation that is still farming out there, that they've done everything the same way for so long that the broadband doesn't matter to them. They're

not thinking about why having internet accessibility is relevant for their farming operation, and they probably never will. Therefore, to them, that's just a nuisance, but by all means it's very relevant. So there's maybe a generational divide and understanding where policies need to be and an issue with the way that information is being communicated so that people of various backgrounds and generations can understand.

The other side of that is not just the generational divide, but the income divide is always going to influence policy, too. That was what I was saying about corporations or the bigger voices at the table. They’re able to articulate and have the time to be there to say what they need, versus the smaller grower that may be trying to just get by and doesn't have the time to go to the table and say what they need. That's always going to be a thing in all industries, but that definitely applies to agriculture technology—what is relevant when most growers may not be using a specific technology or could never afford to, therefore just never think about it.

DID YOU KNOW? The Senate is currently working on the 2023 Farm Bill, and they want the input of all farmers who will be impacted—including YOU! Check out agriculture.senate. gov/farm-bill for more information on this year’s bill and to submit your Farm Bill 2023 ideas.

What are some barriers to/issues with education when it comes to agriculture, and how might these barriers impact the future of farming?

Kathi: There is some disconnect between, for instance, what a startup company is trying to obtain in their world versus what the grower needs on his farm. There are also disconnects between reality and what's coming down the [agtech] pipeline, which also impacts education and ag for high school kids or grade school kids. I think Grand Farm is onto something—they need to connect these kids with technology. I'm very thankful that they're trying to get that done. But that's a process, too.

These educators, and these schools, have a lot on their plate—not only with education, but discipline, too. These teachers are overworked with student issues and teaching the kids. But I'm very excited about Grand Farm’s new plant by Casselton. I think that's going to bring a lot of kids into agriculture and ag technology.

Shelby: I can't believe the disconnect between the city and the farm.

I don't know how it got that way, either, because it used to be that everybody was a part of the food system. I get a kick out of it when people move to the country and then they complain about the smell and just things that animals do that we can’t control.

In the country schools, there's an emphasis on 4H and FFA, among other ag-related education. I’m sure the city schools have some version of them, too. It’s so much easier to teach kids about agriculture, and then maybe they'll grow into being more interested in it. By the time these kids hit high school, they often already have their minds made up about whether or not they will pursue agriculture. So it’s important to educate kids when they’re young, which we aren’t seeing as much of outside of rural schools.

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Shelby makes a great point— educating young kids about agriculture is vital to the future of the industry, especially in an ag-rich state like North Dakota. The North Dakota Department of Agriculture recognized this need for ag education and created the Agriculture in the Classroom council. The council is a group funded by the Agriculture Commissioner that aims to “develop and conduct programs for K-12 agriculture education, and the training of teachers and students in agricultural curriculum activities” throughout the state of North Dakota. Learn more about Ag in the Classroom at facebook.com/ NDaginclassroom

For us farmers, we get a lot of education throughout the year. We go to a lot of meetings and try to learn as much as we can. Other countries might be a little more advanced than we are, though, and we don't know much about anything that they’re doing that could help our own operations out. Recently, as a part of Grand Farm, I talked to somebody from Brazil and that was a really interesting, but I don't know how we would do that on a larger scale. Most growers wouldn’t go to a huge conference, so that is definitely a barrier.

There are some cool networking and educational opportunities, though.

Some seed companies, if you spend enough money with them, they'll take you on a trip somewhere to see a different farming operation. One of my buddies went to Hawaii, and they got to tour a farm there—a big indoor greenhouse-like operation, where they grow their own food for a resort. And in the wintertime, we go down to Illinois and tour some of the Precision Planting operations they have. So there are opportunities there if you’re willing and able to travel, but not everyone can.

Quinn: We want to stay at the forefront of where technology is in terms of research. But you don't want to be so far ahead that when your student comes out of your educational program, they don't have a place to go apply their knowledge—when you're dealing with technology that's so advanced that nobody's using it yet, it's going to be hard to find a job or even implement that knowledge on your own operation because you, as an individual, may not have the capital necessary to have that technology for yourself to use on your operation, even though you're exposed to it. That type of technology, although it may make [farming] easier, just isn't always relevant. Especially in a small operation, the technology that can really help you is probably really expensive.

That goes kind of back to what I was saying before—you can incorporate these technological advancements in the educational curriculum and practice. You can, and should, learn how they change things. But that

same technology may not be available to you when you leave that educational program. If you don't know those foundational basics, then you're just out of luck, because you learned how to do it the “easy way,” so to speak. I'm not saying that I'm against the easy way—I want the easy way! But we have to remember that it might not always be an option and that not everyone has access to that consistently.

It’s also important to remember that not all ag jobs are in the field.

The ag industry needs accountants, administrative help… you need everything necessary to run a business. It’s a whole community around agriculture, not just the specific farmer or the person that's in the field or the horticulturalists or the agronomist. Those are things within the agriculture industry, but the ag industry is similarly tied to every other industry. So I guess, specifically with ag, the education system needs to show that diverse array of opportunities, and not necessarily always portray the farmer as the one that's sitting there with the pitchfork and chasing pigs. Getting away from that as the iconic emblem of what farming is into the more modern version of how diverse it actually is and how diverse the technological applications are is important.

I don't want to say we need to make farming “cool,” but I think just the way that we [as a society] have thought of it for so long has been so narrow-minded that we're forgetting that it's so much more now. I would also say that—this is just a thought to put out there—but like what the Future Farmer magazine is doing in terms of bringing to light different things that are happening in ag… if there was some similar publication that was more K-12-friendly that would spotlight different things that are going on with not only the big companies but also people that are younger that other young people could identify with, that may be another way of opening people's minds to what ag technology and agriculture in general is now.

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What kind of issues is the ag industry facing in regard to recruiting and maintaining farmers?

Shelby: The cost of starting up a new farm that's not handed down to you is astronomical, because you need to find land to rent, which everybody's fighting for. A quarter of land is about 160 acres.

Around here, to buy a quarter of land, it's going for anywhere from $4,500 to $8,000 an acre. That's a huge cost already, and then with current interest rates being 7%, it adds even more to the cost. Then you have to buy equipment, because you won't make any money if you hire people to farm the land. At minimum, you need a four-wheel drive tractor and some sort of cultivator or digger—something to work the soil. You’ll need a planter, a tractor for the planter, and then a combine and at least one truck. Just cost alone is the main barrier.

The general consensus is that to start a mid-to-large farming operation from scratch, you would need upwards of $2.5 million. A small operation would cost much less, but could still cost upwards of $10,000! That’s no small chunk of change! It’s no wonder Shelby argued that cost is the primary barrier in recruiting people to agriculture.

There are a lot of FSA programs that will help you out, but you have to jump through so many hoops to even get started. When I started, my dad told me I had two weeks to figure out if I wanted to take over the farm or not. He didn't let me farm with him, so I did just take it over.

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and father-in-law, was tremendous. It was a lot of work and a lot of stress, and not a lot of people can handle or want to handle that much stress and debt.

Quinn: It's hard to convince someone to want to move to a rural area. Even for myself, I'm on a family farm here, and it's relatively close to a city—I'm about 25 minutes outside of Minot. But if I was any farther and had to drive an hour and a half to get to the city, and I had to stay there all the time to farm, then the lifestyle is very isolating. The incentive to be out in the middle of nowhere by yourself is not high. If you're not making a whole lot of money, then that makes it even worse. If there are not a lot of social activities that you can fill in the rest of the blanks of your life with, then that makes it difficult to be a farmer.

So I think that's part of it, honestly, for retaining people and attracting people to the agriculture industry. Then the other is that many don't have a lot of money in their operation, but you have to have a lot of money to pay people. That just makes it that much harder to compete in the labor market, especially with all those other factors on top of it.

What are some of the issues you’re seeing between farms and corporations right now?

Quinn: One thing that is an issue is not just data privacy and security concerns, but if a corporation is wanting to give you something for free in exchange for your data. A grower is, at this point, aware that their data has value, and is seeing that they are giving up something, and they may not want to just give it up. Everything that we [as a society] participate in has terms and conditions where we pretty much sign away our right to any of that data. I think that continues on into the grower world where we are starting to ask if [the companies collecting our data] are going to give us something in exchange. I'm giving you all this information about my operation, but what do I get? How do I then get to play around with that information for myself?

How can I access that data? How can I have ownership of that data, too? And

what value does that have? Because if you're not on the technology side of the business to understand how that data is being utilized, it's hard to quantify how much value is in [the product or service].

Lack of support from larger corporations is, of course, always a thing. If they don't have a solution right away for how to fix their technology, like if it's a tractor or a sprayer… it's a very time-sensitive issue. If you don't have a solution right away, or they do not have a technician who can come out and help right away and you can't get your work done, then your window of time to be effective with that particular stage of the farming practice, like spraying or planting, can be cut short or missed and it can jeopardize the whole thing.

One of the biggest issues with corporations, and I guess startups in general, too, is their messaging and how they're conveying their value proposition. A lot of times, you will see things being displayed with buzzwords like “autonomy” or “sustainable,” but [the company] may not necessarily have thought through what that means for the grower. The product may not actually be autonomous in the truest sense, and it may still need a lot of hands-on input. I've experienced that with different organizations that I've worked with, where it is marketed as something that is more advanced than it actually is in reality. I think that the dream is always there to be the ideal version of what they're presenting, but it may not be that yet. So when they’re coming to a grower and saying, “Look, we have a solution to a problem you may be facing,” they’ve got to ask themselves—is that actually a problem that growers are facing?

Is the solution as great as they say it is? Because if it's not, then it's just a waste of time for both the company and the grower.

What are the issues you are seeing when it comes to agriculture research? What barriers to research have you noticed?

Kathi: The seed industry, they have wonderful research. They don't bring anything forward without a lot of internal research and a lot of data and data points put into it, just because it's not effective or economical to bring seed forward that isn't already thoroughly researched. Same with chemicals. That's probably one place we're really lacking in our industry is herbicides—effective herbicides. We're using older herbicides from 40-50 years ago right now. It just seems like we need a new herbicide for some of these weeds. There's not enough research going into that industry, that's for sure.

In my line of work, you can get access to all the research information you want if you look or ask for it. I have a business, K&S Seeds, and we sell primarily seed to growers like soybeans, corn, sunflowers, wheat, and some cover crops. All year, I'm going to meetings and learning about the new hybrids or anything new that's coming down the pipeline. It's my responsibility to inform growers of what's coming in. So that's the

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process that I've taken over the last few years. It takes a while to adapt to the new innovations—it's not something that just happens overnight.

Some growers are very cautious; I would say about 5% of growers are maybe willing to try new things. Until something's proven at nearly 100%, it's not being adapted very fast, for sure. But in the seed world, and in the chemical world, there's constant information out there and meetings and research data that you can get your hands on. With newer technology and innovations, there’s not as much.

The EPA also has to approve any new seed technology. There's always some platform everybody has to go through to get things approved, too, so that limits the speed of access to not only the research, but the products. There are government regulations on everything.

Shelby: There’s definitely a delay in the research getting to a lot of us. A lot of the technology we see, we see down in other states before we hear about it in the Upper Midwest—which is okay, because then it's proven to be useful before it reaches us, but it's also nice to know what the up and coming research and technology says. We have a lot of precision planting stuff on our farm. We go to [a precision planting] conference every year, so we're up to date on that kind of stuff, but everything else that’s new, we don't really hear about.

There are also things that need further research. One thing that we've seen over the last few years in our area that we struggle with is alkaline soils and our cow manure. We don't have anywhere to drain our excess water and fertilizer, so we can't really put drainage tile in. There's nothing that we can do in our wet areas here to help get the soil back to being healthy. Research on how to make the soil less alkaline and how to extract that fertilizer before it impacts the soil too heavily would be great.

Quinn: Research is a very necessary thing in ag. We could talk about the different ways it's conducted and whether we like it or not. But for a grower, we usually focus on immediate issues, like decisions that have been made for this season. A lot of the research is going to apply to future operations, not right now. I'm not saying that researching future technology is not important, because it very much is. But when I'm thinking about my operation, and what I have to focus my time on—especially as a smaller operation—I'm very focused on the “right now” stuff. If a research project or anything is going to come to me and demand time or energy from me to take away from what I am currently doing, no matter where I stand on a value system, I have to prioritize my current field and things that I know will work.

The research has to have some sort of incentive for me to participate in that I care about it in an immediate sense. If it's coming from a startup or an agtech company that's wanting me to participate in a research study, they need to compensate. They need to give me some skin in the game and some incentive to participate in their research.

We talked about the information that's being given up to these agtech companies in exchange for that research. I’d like the companies to tell me how [that data] is being utilized. Tell me: what am I giving you? What am I getting in exchange for that?

I also see miscommunication of how a research program may approach a grower, and what their role as the grower is in that research. If they're not communicating those roles as plainly as possible, and everyone doesn't move forward with that understanding, you're going to have things come up, and they're going to be like, “Well, that's not what we agreed to.” Some growers may be skeptical of new technologies or practices because of this issue with communication. That's just that difference between approaching a grower who wants to implement something new and is open to implementing it, versus approaching someone that doesn't want that and the company can’t convince them as to why this is relevant and sell them on it. I think that may be part of where the lack of trust in research comes from. It’s the communication issue. Everyone needs to communicate what's happening, why it's

happening, what the roles, responsibilities, and expectations are, and make sure everyone can move forward from that conversation.

Even between three growers on Grand Farm’s Grower Advisory board, the perspectives can vary. Talking to those involved in the industry can open your eyes to ideas you wouldn’t have thought about otherwise. Talk to your neighbors or fellow farmers about these issues, and you may learn something new—or gain a friend!

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SPONSORED CONTENT

As we enter the dog days of summer, there is a lot going on in Agtech innovation. In each issue of Future Farmer, Emerging Prairie offers up insight into what's new and notable at the cross-section of start-ups and agriculture.

This mont we learn more about some of Grand Farm's inventive partners and get a look at some recent podcast features!

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CONTENTS 56 Discover The Grand Farmer Podcast Interviews!

63 Elevated to New Leadership Positions for Grand Farm

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64 NSF Engines FARMS partnership group reach semifinal round for groundbreaking grant

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C DIS

P O D CAST

OV E R

T HE

I N T E RV I E W S !

Grand Farmer is an agricultural podcast produced by Grand Farm that brings together growers and AgTech professionals to help accelerate conversations around emerging technologies in the agriculture industry.

Emerging Grower is released wherever podcasts are found including on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. And now, Grand Farm is making the episode interviews available to Future Farmer readers.

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HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF CYBERSECURITY IN AGRICULTURE This interview featured Will Cromarty (CEO and Founder of Kirkwall, a cybersecurity company focused on autonomous systems) and Kasey Bitz (farmer, teacher, and president of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association), discussing the reasons why cybersecurity in agriculture is so important. Here are some of the key points that were covered throughout the discussion.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CYBERSECURITY IN AGRICULTURE Cybersecurity is a critical topic in agriculture due to the time-sensitive nature of farming operations, where a cyber attack during critical seasons like planting or harvest could be devastating to food production and global food security.

Agriculture's increasing reliance on advanced equipment, IoT-enabled Ag Tech, and cloud-based systems has raised concerns about potential vulnerabilities to cyber threats.

WILL CROMARTY CEO and Founder of Kirkwall Gordon Court

The impact of cybersecurity extends beyond individual farms, with potential risks to the power grid, manufacturing, and supply chains affecting the entire agricultural sector.

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY The FBI has recognized agriculture as a top concern for cyber attacks and is hosting a conference focused on security in the agricultural context.

USDA's attention to cybersecurity in agriculture is growing, and it's essential for farmers to engage with relevant entities and participate in education and training programs.

Cybersecurity ownership is shared between the government, industry, and individual farmers, with collaboration needed to proactively address cybersecurity challenges.

CHALLENGES AND PROACTIVE APPROACHES Farmers may not prioritize cybersecurity due to their busy schedules, but it's vital to ensure that advanced equipment, monitors, and cloud-based systems are secured to maintain smooth operations.

The growing integration of technology in agriculture, such as GPS, automation, and data analytics, increases the need for secure systems to avoid potential disruptions.

Cybersecurity companies like Kirkwall advocate for a proactive approach to cybersecurity, emphasizing education, training, and risk assessment to prevent and mitigate cyber threats.

KASEY BITZ

President of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association Emerging Prairie

CONCLUSION As agriculture becomes more technologically advanced and interconnected, cybersecurity becomes a critical aspect of maintaining a resilient and secure farming sector. Collaboration between government, industry, and individual farmers is essential to address cybersecurity challenges and safeguard global food security.

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AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE This interview features guest host Felipe Gonzalez, Co-Founder & Head of North America for Startup Connections USA; Patrick Walther, Co-founder and COO of AGvisorPRO; and Adam Spelhaug, Farmer and Agronomist. Here are some of the key points covered in their discussion.

THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE Felipe Gonzalez seeks to explore the impact of technology in farming beyond traditional AgTech discussions.

Both guests emphasize the importance of connecting farmers with experts and providing solutions for on-farm challenges through technology.

INTRODUCING THE GUESTS

FELIPE GONZALEZ

Co-Founder & Head of North America for Startup Connections USA Gordon Court

Patrick Walther, originally from Switzerland, founded AGvisorPRO, an agricultural social network connecting farmers and agronomists.

Adam Spelhaug, a farmer and agronomist from North Dakota, shares his experiences of farming while working in other sectors like retail agronomy and seed companies.

THE CHALLENGES OF FARMING AND MULTIPLE ROLES Adam highlights that farmers often have to manage multiple responsibilities, including farming, secondary jobs, and family commitments.

Both guests discuss the need for technological solutions to support farmers in making more informed decisions, especially in remote areas.

PATRICK WALTHER Co-Founder & COO of AGvisorPRO Emerging Prairie

THE IMPORTANCE OF AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY The concept of autonomy and autonomous technology is seen as a crucial solution to address labor shortages in agriculture.

Farmers appreciate the benefits of autonomous systems for efficiency and resource management but still want to remain actively involved in farm operations.

CONCLUSION The podcast explores how technology can bridge gaps, connect farmers with experts, and provide solutions to farming challenges. Autonomous technology and innovative practices like no-till farming offer promising solutions for enhancing farm efficiency and sustainability.

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ADAM SPELHAUG Farmer & Agronomist Emerging Prairie

COLLABORATION & TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE This interview features Justice Keefauver, from Maple River Grain & Agronomy, and Tom Roden a local farmer, who discuss the overall impact of technology in the agriculture industry.

MEET JUSTICE KEEFAUVER AND TOM RODEN Justice Keefauver shares his background in agriculture, inspired by his father's work as a chemical representative, leading him to pursue a degree in Ag business and become a trusted sales agronomist at Maple River Grain and Agronomy.

Tom Roden, a fourth-generation farmer from Castleton, North Dakota, discusses his farming experience and the involvement of his sons in the family operation.

TECHNOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE

JUSTICE KEEFAUVER Maple River Grain & Agronomy Emerging Prairie

Justice talks about the various tools and technologies used at Maple River Grain and Agronomy, including their precision platform for sampling and fertilizer and seeding recommendations.

He highlights the benefits of using the Climate Corp platform for scouting, data consistency, and addressing field issues such as fertility problems, water management, and diseases.

Tom emphasizes the importance of data management and the integration of farmer and agronomist through technology, making decision-making more efficient.

PROFITABILITY THROUGH TECHNOLOGY Justice discusses the R7 charts from Winfield United, which help growers understand how hybrids respond to different planting populations and how to optimize fertilizer application.

TOM RODEN Farmer

Emerging Prairie

He emphasizes the importance of quality data in deriving better advice for customers and conducting various trials with new technologies, like biologicals and fungicides.

Tom shares his experience with zone sampling, which has allowed them to identify field variability and make more informed decisions, maximizing profitability.

IMPROVING AGRONOMY PRACTICES Justice and Tom highlight the collaborative approach in making decisions about yield goals, fertilizer application rates, and other agronomic practices to optimize productivity.

They emphasize the importance of tailored approaches to each field based on data-driven insights, moving away from blanket practices.

CONCLUSION The podcast highlighted the use of technology in modern agriculture, focusing on precision tools, data management, profitability, and the collaboration between farmers and agronomists to make informed decisions.

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THE IMPACTS OF FARGO'S AGTECH ECOSYSTEM

This interview featured Bruno Dupin Gaspar, investor and founder of Startup Connection USA, and Shelby Lyons, small-town grower and grower advisory board member.

THE BEGINNING OF STARTUP CONNECTION Bruno Dupin Gaspar, an agronomist, and his team founded Startup Connection USA to make meaningful changes in agriculture by connecting farmers with innovative solutions globally.

Started in New York, the company evolved to not only include startups but also established companies that can address farmers' everyday challenges effectively.

SHELBY LYONS Farmer & Grower Advisory Board Member Emerging Prairie

THE ROLE OF STARTUP CONNECTION USA Startup Connection USA helps farmers save time by filtering and presenting the best technology solutions available in the market to address common agricultural issues.

Their team operates in Brazil, Europe, and the US, catering to farmers worldwide and understanding the universal problems faced by agricultural communities.

THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY ON SHELBY'S FARM Shelby Lyons' farm incorporates a range of modern technology, including precision planting, dual hybrid variable rate fertilizer, and liquid fertilization followed by wide drops with the sprayer on corn.

The farm invests in technology by conducting thorough research, attending meetings, and seeking the advice of trusted agronomists to evaluate and decide on the most profitable and efficient solutions.

EVALUATING NEW TECHNOLOGY AND INVESTMENTS When considering new technology or products, Shelby's farm tests them on a section of their planter for at least a year to assess their effectiveness and compatibility with their farm's operations.

They rely on the expertise of agronomists and attend events like the Precision Planting Conference in Fargo to stay informed about the latest advancements.

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BRUNO DUPIN GASPAR Invest & Founder of Startup Connection USA Emerging Prairie

CONCLUSION Startup Connection USA's mission to connect technology with agriculture aligns with the increasing need for innovation in farming practices. Farmers like Shelby Lyons benefit from incorporating technology on their farms by conducting thorough research, consulting experts, and attending relevant events to make informed and profitable decisions.

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL OF DECENTRALIZED FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

This interview featured Bart Womack, Founder and CEO of Eden Grow Systems, and Quinn Renfandt, President of Red River Harvest Cooperative and Controlled Environment Agriculture Expert, discussing the transformative potential of decentralized food production systems that empower communities while also diving into the future role of AI in farming. Here are some of the key points they discussed.

THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL EVENTS ON AGRICULTURE Led with a discussion about the recent Tonga volcano eruption and its unprecedented release of water vapor into the stratosphere, which could have temporary effects on global average temperatures.

QUINN RENDFANDT President of Red River Harvest Cooperative Emerging Prairie

The importance of understanding historical weather patterns and climate changes to anticipate and prepare for future impacts on crop production.

THE ROLE OF CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE (CEA) Quinn Renfandt advocates for adopting controlled environment agriculture to tackle the volatility of climate and improve food security.

Bart Womack emphasizes the significance of indoor farming and nextgeneration technologies to make farming easy and accessible while adapting to changing climate conditions.

THE NECESSITY OF TAKING PROACTIVE MEASURES

BART WOMACK Founder & CEO of Eden Grow Systems Emerging Prairie

Both guests emphasize the importance of taking action now to build resilient farming systems and food production methods for future challenges.

Investing in indoor farming and technology solutions is seen as a proactive approach to ensure food independence and stability during potential climate disruptions.

EMPOWERING LOCAL GROWERS AND SMALL OPERATIONS Quinn Renfandt's farm serves as an example of how small-scale operations can be essential for food production during uncertain times.

Bart Womack points out that local growers and innovative solutions will become increasingly vital as traditional farming methods face challenges due to climate changes and resource management.

CONCLUSION The discussion highlights the urgency of implementing sustainable, resilient, and technology-driven farming practices to tackle climate change and ensure food security. Both indoor farming and controlled environment agriculture provide opportunities to address the challenges presented by a changing climate and a growing global population.

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THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN AGRICULTURE This interview features Alisha Nord, a farmer from rural North Dakota and a North Dakota Farm Bureau employee, and Levi Otis, Founder of QR Post, who discuss the digital transformation in agriculture and how technology is changing the farming landscape.

MEET LEVI OTIS AND ALISHA NORD Levi Otis, co-founder of QR Posts, introduces the land management tool designed for farmers and landowners to manage hunting and other requests effectively.

Alisha Nord, a fifth-generation farmer and rancher, shares her background and experiences as both a hunter and landowner.

THE GENESIS OF QR POSTS Levi explains how QR Posts came into existence by addressing the challenges faced by farmers due to overwhelming hunting pressure during critical seasons like spring and fall.

ALISHA NORD Farmer & Member of North Dakota Farm Bureau Emerging Prairie

His experience as a private property rights advocate for a water management company helped him understand the needs and pains of farmers and hunters, inspiring the creation of QR Posts.

QR Posts aims to bridge the communication gap between farmers and hunters by giving landowners the choice of how they receive hunting requests.

THE FOCUS ON FARMERS Levi emphasizes that QR Posts is primarily farmer-focused and aims to empower landowners to manage access to their property more efficiently.

While there are many apps catering to hunters, QR Posts stands out as the only one dedicated to farmers' needs.

LEVI OTIS

Co-Founder of QR Posts Emerging Prairie

PROMOTING SAFETY AND PROTECTION Alisha highlights the importance of communication and how QR Posts can enhance safety for both farmers and hunters.

The platform includes a liability waiver for hunters to acknowledge and farmers can also upload their customized waivers to enhance their protection.

LOOKING AHEAD Both Levi and Alisha express their excitement for QR Posts and hope to see more people using it to create a smoother and safer hunting experience for everyone involved.

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CONCLUSION The podcast covered topics related to QR Posts, its origins, and the importance of improved communication between farmers and hunters to promote safety and better management of private properties.

Brian Carroll and Dr. William Aderholdt

Elevated to New Leadership Positions for Grand Farm

G

provided by Emerging Prairie Brian Carroll (left) and Dr. William Aderholdt (right)

Grand Farm is excited to announce the elevation of Brian Carroll and Dr. William Aderholdt to new positions within the organization, effective immediately.

Brian Carroll, a co-founder of Grand Farm and formerly the Director of the organization, will assume the role of Chief Innovation Officer for Emerging Prairie—the parent organization of Grand Farm. In his new position, Brian will also focus on long-term strategy, ensuring the organizations remain at the forefront of innovation.

“As the new Chief Innovation Officer at Emerging Prairie, I’m thrilled to leverage expertise and technology from our innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship ecosystems,” Carroll said. “Together, we’ll drive impactful solutions that improve the human condition.”

of Director of Grand Farm. With his extensive experience and deep understanding of agricultural technology, Dr. Aderholdt will lead Grand Farm’s strategic initiatives and spearhead efforts to advance innovation in agriculture.

“I am honored to step into the role of Director of Grand Farm,” Dr. Aderholdt said. “This is an exciting opportunity to continue driving the adoption of cutting-edge technologies in agriculture and further our work addressing pain points in the AgTech space.”

These leadership elevations exemplify Grand Farm’s commitment to fostering innovation and collaboration. By leveraging the expertise and vision of Brian Carroll and Dr. William Aderholdt, Grand Farm is well-positioned to continue its leading work in revolutionizing farming practices.

Dr. William Aderholdt, previously the Director of the Grand Farm Program Management Office, has been elevated to the position

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NSF Engines FARMS partnership group reach semifinal round for groundbreaking grant 64

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The collaborative partnership is known as the Northern Plains AgTech Engine for Food Systems Adapted for Resiliency and Maximized Security, or FARMS. The primary objective of the FARMS proposal is to optimize and leverage the existing agricultural opportunities and the AgTech ecosystem in North Dakota to best address global food challenges. The project will work to offset a diminishing agricultural workforce by improving farming efficiencies, maintaining/increasing yields, reducing environmental impacts, and enhancing ecosystem services.

Submitted in early 2023, the proposal aims to accelerate economic development in agriculture while focusing on issues such as food security and production for a rapidly growing global population. Partnerships, including those with North Dakota higher education institutions, are featured prominently and include United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) and Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College from the North Dakota Tribal College System (NDTCS) and University of North Dakota, Bismarck State College, and North Dakota State College of Science from the North Dakota University System (NDUS). Private sector and government partnerships were also key components of the project.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that FARMS is one of 34 semifinalists in the competition from an original pool of 188 projects that span nearly all key technology areas and societal and economic challenges highlighted in the CHIPS and Science Act. “A recent economic impact study shows that agriculture contributes $31 billion to the North Dakota economy and more than 110,000 jobs,” said NDSU President David Cook. “FARMS is truly a unique opportunity to accelerate momentum around the future of agriculture technology and our state’s role in addressing food security and the workforce and innovation translation necessary to grow this sector.”

The NSF’s Engines program is designed to catalyze and foster innovation ecosystems throughout the U.S. Its goals include advancing critical technologies; addressing national and societal challenges; cultivating partnerships among industry, academia, government, nonprofits, civil society, and communities of practice; promoting economic growth and job creation; and fostering regional innovation and talent. Engines support use-inspired research, translating innovation into practice, and workforce development while prioritizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

In addition to NDSU's research capabilities, the partnership with Grand Farm is an important aspect of the FARMS project.

Grand Farm, powered

by Emerging Prairie, is a collaborative initiative focused on accelerating research, innovation, and technology in the agriculture industry.

Grand Farm Director Brian Carroll is coleading stakeholders and partnerships for the project and said, “Grand Farm is excited to be on the leadership team for NSF Engine. We are creating a network of growers, technologists, corporations, startups, educators, policymakers, and investors working together to solve problems in agriculture with applied technology.”

A cornerstone of developing applied technology is the process of research and development and the transfer of technology from researcher to industry. An expert in the rapidly growing field of dry edible beans, NDSU Professor and genomicist Phillip McClean will serve as the Research and Development lead for FARMS and ND EPSCoR Executive Director Jolynne Tschetter will lead the process of working with industry partners on commercializing research developed by the project.

Executive Director of The FMWF Chamber Foundation Jenna Mueller is co-lead for education and workforce development on the project and brings

expertise running the federal Good Jobs Challenge in the area. She sees great potential in the project to attract talent and create opportunities for upskilling.

The project’s inclusive vision will lead to equitable agricultural opportunities for New Americans, Tribal citizens, veterans, and others. Mueller said, “Our region boasts a wealth of AgTech Innovation pioneers, yet the prospect of nurturing and propelling their expertise while equipping present and upcoming talents to become global frontrunners is truly exhilarating. This endeavor will not only bolster North Dakota's workforce and economic development but also cement its position as a leading force in the AgTech landscape.”

Joining Mueller as co-lead in this area is NDSU Professor and Chair of NDSU Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Leon Schumacher.

The involvement of Tribal Colleges and Universities and Tribal communities in North Dakota is a key component of FARMS. NDSU Associate Professor Hollie Mackey will co-lead this effort, incorporating best practices to integrate and reinforce this connection at all levels. Mackey will be joined by NDSU Director of Tribal Partnerships Sheridan McNeil, who brings seven years of experience at United Tribes Technical College, culminating in her role as Dean of Instruction.

Mackey was Executive Director for the White House Initiative on Advancing Education Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities. “FARMS creates an amazing opportunity for Tribal communities and the Tribal Colleges and Universities to collaborate in meaningful partnerships as key FARMS stakeholders, centering Indigenous knowledge to advance food sovereignty and Native nation building,” Mackey said.

GFMEDC Chief Business Development Officer Ryan Aasheim is a co-lead with Carroll on stakeholders and partnerships and noted how it’s the right time for the project. “The NSF Engines opportunity could not be more appropriate right now given the significant momentum and investment our region has made into building our AgTech ecosystem. The state, along with numerous local and national public and private sector partners, has invested over a hundred million dollars to support the buildout of this infrastructure," he said.

being considered for funding like this from the NSF only confirms that. We are truly a proof of concept for the NSF slogan: Innovation Anywhere, Opportunity Everywhere."

Additional information about the NSF Engines Semifinalists can be found by scanning the QR code below:

NDSU Vice President for Research and Creative Activity Colleen Fitzgerald agrees. “North Dakota is the poster child for advancing the geography of innovation and

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