Fargo, ND (agnews890.com) – ND Senator John Hoeven today held a roundtable to discuss opportunities for expanded joint agriculture research in North Dakota, with the goal of building upon successful collaborations that the senator has worked to advance, both as the Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee and a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Sen. Hoeven brought together a range of stakeholders with expertise in agriculture research, technology and autonomous systems, among other fields. Participants included:

·       Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education and Economics.

·       Dr. Simon Liu, Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

·       Congressman Kelly Armstrong.

·       North Dakota Lt. Governor Tammy Miller.

·       Greg Tehven, Grand Farm Board Chair.

·       Brian Carroll, Grand Farm Co-Founder.

·       Representatives from Microsoft, CHS, RDO, Bobcat and Appareo/AGCO.

In particular, Hoeven discussed how to best leverage multiple ongoing initiatives, such as the Food systems Adapted for Resiliency and Maximized Security (FARMS) project and the AgTech Cooperative Agreement he worked to establish and fund between ARS, NDSU and Grand Farm, to build effective partnerships and catalyze innovation.

           “Over the last 50 years, innovations in agricultural research and technology have allowed farmers and ranchers to produce more, with less,” said Hoeven. “Today’s roundtable builds upon these decades of work to realize new opportunities for collaboration and lead to the next big leaps in ag technology. That’s exactly what we’re working to accomplish with the FARMS project, NDSU and Grand Farm’s cooperative agreement with ARS and our efforts to establish an ag policy research center at NDSU. I appreciate Under Secretary Jacobs-Young and ARS Administrator Liu for joining this important discussion and their continued partnership with our research institutions, groups like Grand Farm and our world-leading ag industry.