04.02.24

Hoeven: North Dakota Leading in Both Ag Research & Shaping Policy to Benefit Midwest Producer

Senator Brings Together Stakeholders to Discuss Next Steps on NDSU Ag Policy Research Center, Secured More Than $50 Million for Priority Research Initiatives Across ND in FY24

FARGO, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven today held a roundtable with leaders from North Dakota State University (NDSU), Grand Farm and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to discuss funding the senator secured as Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee to bolster North Dakota’s role as a world leader in agriculture research. Specifically, Hoeven outlined provisions he authored and that were passed as part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 agriculture funding bill to:

  • Establish a new agriculture policy research center at NDSU, with $2 million to make the university one of the leading resources for policy research in the nation. The new center is funded through the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and will:
    • Help address farm and agribusiness challenges through in-depth policy and economic analysis.
    • Cover topics like improving agriculture risk management tools, including crop insurance and livestock insurance products.
    • Complement the work conducted at similar centers currently housed at the University of Missouri and Texas A&M University.
    • Help ensure policies and programs meet the needs of producers in the Midwest and around the country.
  • Provide more than $50 million for agriculture research funding conducted across North Dakota. This includes:
    • $25 million for ARS and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) research in North Dakota, including at the state’s three ARS research stations in Fargo, Grand Forks and Mandan.
    • $19.5 million for NDSU priority initiatives led.
    • $3 million to support additional renovations at the ARS Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center in Fargo.
    • $2 million to continue an AgTech Cooperative Agreement between Grand Farm, NDSU and ARS, a $1 million increase over funding Hoeven secured in FY23 and FY22.

“Exciting developments are happening across North Dakota to the benefit of producers in not only in our state, but across the U.S.,” said Hoeven. “The $2 million we secured for a new ag research policy center at NDSU will help ensure that local, Midwestern expertise is guiding policymakers in Washington. In addition, we’ve provided more than $50 million for high-priority research initiatives that are ongoing across North Dakota, helping to strengthen crop genetics, prevent disease, improve yields and reduce costs for our producers. Importantly, this includes increased funding for the Grand Farm-NDSU-ARS partnership, which supports our state’s leadership in the next generation of precision agriculture technology and complements project’s like NDSU’s FARMS partnership.”

NDSU Priority Initiatives

          The $50 million in funding for North Dakota agriculture research complements similar initiatives that Hoeven has worked to advance, including the NDSU-led FARMS partnership, which is receiving up to $160 million over ten years under the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines program. Other research priorities Hoeven worked to secure in the FY24 funding legislation include:

  • Autonomous Systems and Agricultural Data Security.
  • Predictive Crop Performance.
  • Fusion Machine Learning.
  • Controlled Environment Agriculture.
  • Agricultural Measurement and Monitoring Innovation Lab.
  • Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in Precision Agriculture.
  • Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).
  • The Mandan ARS Healthy Soils Initiative.
  • Research benefiting the production of, and disease prevention for, barley, oats, pulse crops, soybeans and wheat, among other commodities.

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