A $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines will create an agricultural technology research corridor stretching from the Piedmont to eastern North Carolina.
Gregory Goins, associate dean for research in the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, will lead a team of university, N.C. Cooperative Extension, community college, business and research partners in developing a plan to share information and technology faster and more broadly across the state by building an “ag tech corridor” from central North Carolina to the east, a press release from N.C. A&T said.
“New farmers, underserved farmers and those with small-scale acreage need information to develop farm management practices to implement methods that protect the environment, produce the highest quality food and provide a reliable family income,” Goins said. “Our team seeks to develop a plan to bring information from industry to farmer, particularly in underserved areas, to help them mitigate climate impacts, lower the barriers to market entry that they face, and boost the agricultural sector’s economic output.”
The project, called Climate-Responsive Opportunities in Plant Science, or CROPS, brings together researchers from Duke University, East Carolina University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University; specialists and county agents from N.C. Cooperative Extension; industry partner the N.C. Biotechnology Center; and nonprofit research institute Research Triangle International with the N.C. Community College System. Together, they will create a plan to develop a 42-county Agricultural Tech Innovation Corridor, including Alamance County, to enable improvements in agriculture to reach underserved areas of the state faster.
Through a mix of educational programming, workforce development activities and startup grant funding, the 10 institutions will provide educational programs that deliver up-to-date information on such topics as farming technologies, agricultural business management and natural resource conservation, Goins said.
The project also proposes ways to help small producers identify new crops and livestock enterprises that have the potential to increase farm income and assists them in developing community-based local food systems.
The program also has a strong workforce-development component to foster small-scale farmland economic performance as well to increase diversity in farming, Goins said. The program will stress climate-smart techniques and ways to create climate resilience, and provide information about technologies to help agricultural operations thrive.
Programs will be free to participants.
A&T is the first historically Black university to lead one of NSF’s “Engines,” grant-funded projects designed to promote science and technology as regional economic drivers. With a potential investment of $1.6 billion in the next decade, Engines is one of the largest investments in regionally-based research and development in U.S. history, according to the foundation. Since January, the foundation has awarded 10 projects in 18 states. North Carolina is the only state with three Engines awards.
The program will begin this spring with listening sessions across the state, said Biswanath Dari, assistant professor and natural resource specialist at N.C. A&T Cooperative Extension.
“We will make farmers the crucial role-players in this project by going to them and seeing what they need,” he said. “Then, we’ll address those needs with farmer-focused, participatory programs.”
