On May 3rd at the BankNorth Theater located inside of Cass County High School in Casselton, ND, Grand Farm and Casselton Economic Development jointly announced the future site of Grand Farm’s Innovation Facility would be located on about 150 acres two miles west of Casselton along I-94.
Melissa Beach, Casselton Community and Economic Development Director helped unveil the site. “We are excited that Grand Farm chose our community for its permanent location. With our long history in agriculture and abundant community and industry partners, the Casselton area is a great fit for their Innovation Facility.”
Since its launch in 2019, Grand Farm has been operating and deploying AgTech projects on donated acreage south of Fargo, ND. With the continual expansion of projects and research, Grand Farm determined that constructing an Innovation Facility on their own acreage would best allow them to continue their impact in agriculture technology innovation.
“We couldn’t be more excited to join this great community,” Brian Carroll, Director of Grand Farm said. “While our current test site has exceeded expectations, we continue to add projects and seek to provide additional capabilities. When you look across the Casselton area, you see a network of established organizations from agriculture to transportation to finance, so we’re really joining as another piece of a deep-rooted ecosystem.”
Grand Farm’s Innovation Facility will be intentionally designed to be a continually adapting, demonstration and innovation space that will stay at the forefront of agriculture technology innovation. It will provide expanded acreage for the deployment of additional AgTech projects, rapid prototyping capabilities, and increased research capacity.
In February, the North Dakota Department of Commerce announced it had selected Grand Farm as a recipient of the department’s Autonomous Agriculture Technology Matching Grant. The $10 million grant was created with funding from the 67th Legislative Assembly to encourage and support the advancement of autonomous farming technology by awarding a 1:1 match of funding for the deployment of an innovation facility, project management for complex North Dakota-based and global autonomous agricultural concepts, and workforce initiatives to upskill the autonomous agriculture workforce with qualified professionals to ensure advanced farming techniques.
Grand Farm directly engages the community, bringing together local stakeholders with organizations from around the world to collaborate on innovations solving some of the world’s largest challenges in AgTech. Grand Farm was developed to be additive to existing infrastructure, programs, and state/federal investments. Its independent and neutral platform allows for direct and rapid engagement with growers, industry, researchers, and government. This gaps-based approach maximizes investment into programs, facilities, and infrastructure.
