NFarms Collaborations and Partnerships
NFarms partnerships with local growers/producers, industry and organizations will help move projects forward to deploy these technology advancements faster in ag operations. Some of those partnerships and collaborations include:
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NRCS and Nebraska NRDs. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and Nebraska Natural Resource Districts have been regular partners with the University of Nebraska on-farm studies developing new technologies and practices that can help farmers make better use of their resources and further adoption of precision ag technologies.
- Feedlot Innovation Center. That Feedlot Innovation Center also will be located at the University of Nebraska Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center (ENREEC), facilitating research collaboration, promoting regenerative agricultural techniques, and highlighting UNL’s culture of innovation and strategic investment in agricultural research and development.
- Private-sector opportunity. Entrepreneurs and private-sector businesses will be able to have operations/facilities to test out their ideas at NFarms as well as the Feedlot Innovation Center.
- USDA ARS center at NIC. With its new facility at Nebraska Innovation Campus (NIC), USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) will greatly expand its scientific presence here, opening up even greater opportunities for ARS collaboration with the University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) and specifically with NFarms. This collaboration with the USDA ARS National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Agriculture at NIC offers the long-term possibility of establishing Lincoln as the nation’s ag data hub.
- USDA grants/collaboration for digitized ag. IANR’s Agricultural Research Division (ARD) is collaborating with the USDA ARS Partnerships for Data Innovations to develop a versatile online platform for agricultural data management and analytics. USDA similarly is providing a separate grant to NFarms faculty for digitized ag research and development.