The Space Ag Conference was inspired by the Grand Farm\u2019s connection with Ralph Fritsche, NASA\u2019s Senior Project Manager for Space Crop Production and Exploration Food Systems in support of Deep Space Exploration. Fritsche discussed topics like the impact of space technology in regards to terrestrial agriculture as well as the history of using satellites to track and measure crop yields and health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since its conception in 2021, the goal of the Space Ag Conference has been to attract high school and college students into the field of agriculture. While farms are getting bigger and more complex, fewer and fewer students are exposed to agriculture professions. We need new people entering agriculture. The Space Ag Conference aims to entice a new generation of future farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can expect a prolific panel of guest speakers at this year\u2019s Space Ag Conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inspiring Young Minds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
With one of the main undertakings of the Space Ag Conference being to attract and inspire students, this year\u2019s conference offers many educational opportunities for those interested in agriculture, space and the worlds beyond! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
University Of North Dakota: Near-Space Mission <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n High school students can join the University of North Dakota as they send seeds into low Earth orbit. This weather-dependent event will allow participants to view the launch of a high-altitude balloon that climbs into the stratosphere with a payload of seeds. The balloons will approach the edge of space and if they can be recovered rapidly, the students will return the same day with seeds that traveled to a near-space environment and back to earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n North Dakota State University: Plant The Moon <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Students will receive a brief explanation about the roles of microbes and how they help crops grow in space. Microbes can help us increase our nutrients while also reducing the payload of bringing fertilizers to space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Students will then work in groups collecting data for the experiment wherein crops, likely peas, do not receive a microbial treatment. Students will collect data regarding plant growth and assess formation of root nodules and chlorophyll content of the plants to determine if the microbes did their job and improved crop growth in the lunar regolith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With this design, NDSU\u2019s Plant the Moon teams received Best in Show awards for Innovation and Experimental Design in 2022 and for Best Crop Growth in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Activity: A small experimental station on mars needs re-supply!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A team of students will train to fly across the harsh Mars surface to give critical items to another team doing valuable research. In this training mission, student teams will create valuable operating protocols to navigate low-visibility situations and hone their skills to fly the drone completely autonomously if the weather deteriorates further. Students will work together to fly a DJI Tello drone through an obstacle course to reach a destination. They will have the opportunity to fly both by line-of-sight and autonomously with Scratch, a simple program that allows you to script autonomous flight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n TrainND Northwest: Drones and Simulators <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Students will learn about the possibilities that exist with drones. Experts from TrainND will discuss the pathway to commercial drone use. Students will then get to experience flying a drone using the simulator. TrainND will have multiple drones of different sizes on display and students will get a diverse perspective on drone application in different industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kris Kimel is the founder of Humanity in Deep Space. Last year he spoke about Interplanetary Agriculture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “As our species transitions into deep space, one of the hardest problems will be producing food and a diverse diet to allow humans not to just survive but thrive in space,” Kimel said. “We are already a spacefaring civilization and off-planet experiences and habitation is now part of our near future.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sherry Fieber-Beyer is the assistant professor of Space Studies for UND. She was invited to speak at last year’s conference because of her research currently investigating the growth potential of asteroid soil simulant to grow crops in space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She believes that growers are the backbone of any society and their involvement will be necessary for our long-term survival in space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One of Fieber-Beyer’s key speaking points is one not often talked about: the earth’s soil health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “At some point, Earth’s soil will no longer be able to support plant life\u2026 before that happens, we do have an opportunity to mine carbonaceous asteroids for their rich regolith and replenish Earth’s top soils by direct regolith transfer or possibly through hydroponic solutions,\u201d Fieber-Beyer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aerospace Engineer, NASA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is America\u2019s space exploration leader. With over 312,000 employees spread over 20 facilities planetside, an important distinction when talking about NASA is that they lead the pack in fields of research such as climate, our solar system and worlds beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Director of Astrology Operations, Office of the Center Director, NASA AMES Research Center<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ames Research Center, founded in 1939, is located in California\u2019s silicon valley. Their research primarily focuses on keeping America\u2019s skies safe in the age of aircraft, commercial drones and, one day, flying cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President, Synrge, LLC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n SyNRGE exists to bridge the gap between feeding people in space and those on Earth. They use research and developing technology to feed a small population on Mars to find innovative ways to feed the eight billion people back home on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n President and Founder. Satshot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Established in 1994, Satshot has become a leader in remote sensing. Larger crop yields while saving money on chemicals, seed and fertilizer are the major attributions of Satshot. Satshot acquires billions of acres worth of imagery every growing season, and that information can be distributed to any corner of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Founder and President, Higher Orbits Foundation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Higher Orbits’ primary mission is to bring curious high-school students into the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor and Chair, Department of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our very own UND has a long-standing relationship with NASA. UND is the first university to have a NASA-funded lab dedicated to designing space exploration and planetary exploration suits. UND earned a NASA-Johnson Space Center (JSC) appreciation award in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Founder and CEO, Eden Grow Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Eden Grow Systems is putting technology to work in an effort to bring food security to everyone. Using new technology like aeroponics and automation, they inspire to produce more from less work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vice President and CBO, Space Lab Technologies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Space Lab brings their insight into habitation to the table. Space agriculture, water recovery, thermal control and air revitalization are some of their specialties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior Project Manager for Space Crop Production in Support of Deep Space Exploration, NASA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We have an in-depth interview with Fritsche you can find on page 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sr. Research Scientist, Lynntech<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lynntech was launched in 1987. Lynntech\u2019s scientists and engineers work together to execute all stages of technology from exploratory research to advanced fabrication and software integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing Beyond Earth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Growing Beyond Earth (GBE) is a NASA partnered program designed to advance research into growing plants in space. GBE is a classroom, citizen-based science project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agriculture Teacher, Southeastern Region Career and Technology Center<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Southeastern Region Career and Technology Center is a co-op that offers classes and educational experiences that may supplement current curriculums and is located in Wahpeton, ND.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Center Technology Transition Lead, NASA SBIR\/STTR<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) are both programs developed to help small businesses fund the important research and technology that fulfill NASA\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n University of Minnesota<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The University of Minnesota is home to the School of Physics and Astronomy. With coursework in classical mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum physics and thermal\/statistical physics, the University of Minnesota affords a new generation the ability to become involved with cutting edge contemporary research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve heard about autonomous farms in recent news, Grand Farm of Emerging Prairie was most likely the name behind it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tasking themselves with building the \u201cfarm of the future,\u201d the people behind Grand Farm have set out to capitalize on the region\u2019s expertise in both the agriculture and technology industries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grand Farm has been backed by North Dakota\u2019s own Governor Doug Burgum who, in 2019, announced that Grand Farm would receive a $10 million matching grant from the department of commerce. \u201cIt\u2019s an investment that will further accelerate ag innovation, and it\u2019s going to have a transformative impact on the future of North Dakota and our nation\u2019s agriculture,\u201d Burgum said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grand Farm\u2019s primary goal is to encourage collaboration among businesses, organizations and researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ralph Fritsche is a Senior Project Manager with NASA developing sustainable and reliable fresh food systems. His work focuses primarily on supporting long duration space missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). Fritsche began his career with NASA in 1989 and has supported the US Manned Space Program in various engineering and operational roles. He also received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did NASA think it would be important to be a partner in the Space Ag Conference?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n NASA has been involved with North Dakota for a number of years now. So, we\u2019ve worked with the University of North Dakota, they have a Lunar-Mars greenhouse set up there that we\u2019ve worked with them on. It\u2019s an EPSCoR state. We also look at promoting small business. There seems to be a lot of work going on in North Dakota when it comes to such topics as robotics and automation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n IF NASA is presenting at the conference this year, can youo give us a preview of what message will be delivered to the attendees? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My fundamental area of responsibility is laying the framework for exploration for food systems and specifically space crop production activities. So, we look at pick-and-eat type crops initially as part of the supplementation of that pre-packaged food that we\u2019ve relied on since the beginning of the space program. Chronologically speaking, it\u2019s for these long duration missions to Mars where our pre-packaged food system starts to degrade. So they\u2019re looking to extend that, as a safety net and also as a way of adding additional flavors, textures, content and variety. So I\u2019ll probably talk a little about our plans for that. I\u2019ll probably give an overview going out over the next 20 or so years as to what NASA\u2019s thoughts are for how we introduce crop production, specifically pick-and-eat type crops that require little to no processing and preparation into the architecture that we\u2019re using for Artemis and the exploration of the moon and eventually Mars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Layman’s Terms, How does NASA benefit agriculture right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We are working on the areas of what kind of seeds do we take with us? How do we optimize seeds so that they are pathogen free so that it doesn’t introduce problems later on with the continuous growth cycles on a space vehicle? How do we develop seeds that can handle some of the unique stresses that we have in space flight? And some of those stresses are, you know, similar to ones that would be for plants grown in fields or in a commercial controlled environment, agricultural setting. Then it’s the technology. How do you monitor these things in the field? How do you reduce crew time, or in this case, labor for the areas of maintaining the crops, harvesting the crops, et cetera? So I think it\u2019s more on the fringe of technology application that would relate to field agriculture more than anything else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Has agriculture been something that NASA has kept in mind from the beginning?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been doing a little history dig up and I actually found a copy in a September 1958 copy of \u201cFood Technology Magazine\u201d that predates any of our crewed space flight missions. It\u2019s going back to the Manhigh Program where we were looking at first attempts to see how humans tolerate the upper atmosphere beyond 95%, 99% of the Earth\u2019s atmosphere in balloon flights. And even back then, they were talking about cyanobacteria, spirulina, as being a potential source of nutrition for crews on early space flight missions. So I would say this goes hand in hand with the dawn and predawn of the space program, our interest in agriculture and space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Space Life Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, student interns are joining agency scientists to contribute in the area of plant growth research for food production in space. The agency attracts its future workforce through the NASA Internship, Fellowships and Scholarships or NIFS program.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did NASA think it would be important to be a partner in the Space Ag Conference?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n NASA has been involved with North Dakota for a number of years now. So, we\u2019ve worked with the University of North Dakota, they have a Lunar-Mars greenhouse set up there that we\u2019ve worked with them on. It\u2019s an EPSCoR state. We also look at promoting small business. There seems to be a lot of work going on in North Dakota when it comes to such topics as robotics and automation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If NASA is presenting at the conference this year, can you give us a preview of what message will be delivered to the attendees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My fundamental area of responsibility is laying the framework for exploration for food systems and specifically space crop production activities. So, we look at pick-and-eat type crops initially as part of the supplementation of that pre-packaged food that we\u2019ve relied on since the beginning of the space program. Chronologically speaking, it\u2019s for these long duration missions to Mars where our pre-packaged food system starts to degrade. So they\u2019re looking to extend that, as a safety net and also as a way of adding additional flavors, textures, content and variety. So I\u2019ll probably talk a little about our plans for that. I\u2019ll probably give an overview going out over the next 20 or so years as to what NASA\u2019s thoughts are for how we introduce crop production, specifically pick-and-eat type crops that require little to no processing and preparation into the architecture that we\u2019re using for Artemis and the exploration of the moon and eventually Mars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Layman terms, how does NASA benefit agriculture right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We are working on the areas of what kind of seeds do we take with us? How do we optimize seeds so that they are pathogen free so that it doesn’t introduce problems later on with the continuous growth cycles on a space vehicle? How do we develop seeds that can handle some of the unique stresses that we have in space flight? And some of those stresses are, you know, similar to ones that would be for plants grown in fields or in a commercial controlled environment, agricultural setting. Then it’s the technology. How do you monitor these things in the field? How do you reduce crew time, or in this case, labor for the areas of maintaining the crops, harvesting the crops, et cetera? So I think it\u2019s more on the fringe of technology application that would relate to field agriculture more than anything else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Has agriculture been something that NASA has kept in mind from the beginning?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been doing a little history dig up and I actually found a copy in a September 1958 copy of \u201cFood Technology Magazine\u201d that predates any of our crewed space flight missions. It\u2019s going back to the Manhigh Program where we were looking at first attempts to see how humans tolerate the upper atmosphere beyond 95%, 99% of the Earth\u2019s atmosphere in balloon flights. And even back then, they were talking about cyanobacteria, spirulina, as being a potential source of nutrition for crews on early space flight missions. So I would say this goes hand in hand with the dawn and predawn of the space program, our interest in agriculture and space. In the Space Life Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, student interns are joining agency scientists to contribute in the area of plant growth research for food production in space. The agency attracts its future workforce through the NASA Internship, Fellowships and Scholarships or NIFS program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Is there anywhere that NASA is currently looking to collaborate with farmers? Anything farms can do to help?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the things that we look at for the future is the potential for growing crops in either lunar surface material or Mars surface material. When I talk about doing that, I\u2019m looking at soils that are nowhere near optimized like Earth\u2019s soils are. There are similarities there in techniques and approaches most likely that can be done to kind of rejuvenate or convert depleted, non-usable or non-efficient soils for plant growth terrestrially, and what we\u2019re trying to do with this lunar and Mars surface simulants that we work with. So I think there will be some collaboration in those areas. We actually had an opportunity to grow some plants in some of the early Apollo samples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, you did just say that NASA was able to grow vegetation in samples from the moon?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Take it with a grain of salt in the sense that they use material from several different Apollo missions. They got a model plant, arabidopsis, to grow in it. Not very well because they weren\u2019t doing anything at this point to see what they could do to improve growth. They were just trying to see if they could get growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Are there any resources that farmers should know about from NASA that could help them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you think of remote sensing, which is common, it started off with satellite remote sensing, then it made its way into drones. That type of technology is something that NASA has used over the years that made its way into a field agriculture setting. I think similar to machines that will be used to identify fruit and crops when they\u2019re ready for harvest and go pick those autonomously. A tech transfer like that from what NASA does into the terrestrial setting, they always look for a straight path. The reality is that most all of the things that NASA has done and developed that eventually have made its way into commercial applications has gone through multiple steps along the way to take a specific use for NASA and develop it, refine it and apply it through a variety of steps into something that actually makes it into a commercial setting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What are some things that you at NASA are currently excited about in regards to space crops?<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a veggie system and the advanced plant habitat. We have been able to show that we could grow crop plants, plants that were edible and something the crew would consume. The crew has eaten them and that kind of proves a concept that we can grow plants not only for research, but you could grow the types of plants, the crops that we would want to eat. We\u2019ve finally gotten another stakeholder who\u2019s more in setting up the technologies that we would need to bring to exploration to actually fund the development of the first crop production chamber. So, this would be a chamber that is primarily designed to grow crops, plants as a source of food. We\u2019ll know what the productivity of what you grow would be, and we\u2019ll know about the cleaning aspects, how frequently it needs to be cleaned, where are the failure points that need to be worked on and what\u2019s the food safety aspect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s really important because that\u2019s going to prove the concept of taking a system like this on the mission to Mars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Water and nutrients are being added to plants in the Veggie hardware in NASA Kennedy Space Center’s ISS environment simulator chamber. Mizuna mustard, Outredgeous lettuce and Waldmann’s green lettuce are growing in Veggie. Growth in the chamber mimics the growth of plant experiments in the Veggie plant growth system on the International Space Station.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You’ve mentioned the enjoyability of the food, how does that rank in importance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From a very practical perspective, there\u2019s a concept called menu fatigue. If you limit the menu to a certain number of items, after a period of time, the crews are going to get tired of them. On missions a year or so long, the crews are losing weight because they just get tired of certain things. If you think about an analogy of missions to space being like the early Arctic and Antarctic exploration missions, meals were a very important period of time for them and as they are for astronauts because if you think about the isolation they\u2019re in, in a sterile environment, they have very little left of home. A good meal provides an opportunity for the crews to get together and talk about their day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For the mars mission, what do the steps look like in getting the technology to the point where it is ready for that mission? Do you start on earth, then go to the international space station, and then what?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re pretty much spot on. We do everything on the ground before we bring it up to low earth orbit. It\u2019s always a case of you want to do as much of the work you can do in the easiest venue you have access to. The factor in it that affects everything is the fact that on the ground, we don\u2019t have the microgravity environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is the most groundbreaking thing that you have learned recently when it comes to space crops and long term space travel?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Groundbreaking to me means something that\u2019s extremely compelling and I don\u2019t know that we have any grand \u201caha!\u201d moment. I think the very fact that we know we can grow things in space is the compelling thing. That\u2019s it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What kind of impact do you think this is going to have with farming on earth?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re all talking about the same thing and that is feeding humans nutritious, safe, healthy food, and a variety of food in challenging conditions. With climate change, how that\u2019s affecting different growth areas across the world, we\u2019re all looking at the same problems. So, I think it would be hard for me to predict today how that might converge between field agriculture, controlled environment agriculture and space technology in the next 10, 20 or 30 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What is a message that you personally would have for farmers that are interested in this technology?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We in NASA, in the food area, have a deep respect for everything that they do. We recognize that by the year 2050, we\u2019re looking at trying to feed maybe a crew of four to six people on long duration space flight missions. Well, they\u2019re going to be looking at feeding, what, 10 plus billion people? They have an important job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 4, 2023 – University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn more at grandfarm.com\/space-ag-conference<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nNational Center for Autonomous Technology (NCAT): Flying Drones<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Returning Speakers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Kris Kimel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_2-1-739x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSherry Fieber-Beyer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_3-1-963x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nPast Speakers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Ashley Korzun<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_5-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJohn Rask<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_7-967x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDr. Gary Stute<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_4-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nLanny Faleide<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_8-896x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMichelle Lucas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_9-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nPablo de Leon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_10-1-680x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nLeo Barton Womack<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_6-817x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis Years Speakers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_15-1024x298.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nChristine Escobar<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_16-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nRalph Fritsche<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_17-1024x392.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJinseong Kim<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_18-1024x869.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMarion Litzinger<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_19-1024x884.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBreanna Pastir<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_20-1024x430.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nMike Vinje<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_21-1024x680.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAdam Williams<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
About Grand Farm<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_22-1024x466.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Future of Farming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Q&A with Ralph Fritsche<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_24-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_12-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_13-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/futurefarmermag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what_is_the_space_ag_conference_11-1024x768.jpg\")
Time will tell how we will feed our astronauts on trips to Mars.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Space Ag Conference<\/h2>\n\n\n\n