WHEATLAND, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today announced that Grand Farm will serve as the National Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Proving Grounds Network for AgTech (NPG-Ag). In addition, Grand Farm will be the first proving ground in the network, focused on weed control.
- NPG-Ag builds upon the Grand Farm-North Dakota State University (NDSU)-ARS cooperative agreement that Hoeven previously worked to establish and fund.
- As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, Hoeven has secured a total of $11 million for the cooperative agreement to date, which helped secure Grand Farm’s role as National Program Manager.
- This includes $2 million in additional funding that Hoeven provided in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 to create an ARS work site at Grand Farm, which USDA is utilizing to establish the Program Management Office for the NPG-Ag.
- The new initiative will test and validate new and emerging precision agriculture technologies under real farming conditions.
- Over time, the program will expand into other locations and priorities such as disease prevention, animal production and water management.
- The goal is to help farmers make informed decisions when investing in the future of their operations, providing a standardized, data-driven process to evaluate the performance of new technologies.
- As National Program Manager, Grand Farm will:
- Facilitate the logistics of the National Proving Grounds Network, which will include technology companies, ARS and land-grant institutions like NDSU.
- Lead engagement with technology companies looking to test new innovations.
- Provide facilities and equipment to support technology testing and analysis.
“With Grand Farm serving as both the National Program Manager and the first proving ground for this USDA initiative, North Dakota’s technology ecosystem is front and center in efforts across the country to develop the next generation of precision ag technology,” said Senator Hoeven. “The cooperative agreement we established between Grand Farm, NDSU and ARS served as the genesis for the USDA National Proving Grounds for AgTech. When we provided an additional $2 million to establish an ARS work site at Grand Farm, USDA saw this as an opportunity to create a national network of businesses and land grant institutions, with Grand Farm managing the program. What this means for farmers – new technologies will be tested and proven to work in real-world conditions, giving our producers certainty when they invest in the future of their operations.”
