22 BUILDING TOWARDS PRECISION AGRICULTURE ANDREW JOSEPH FARMS.COM It’s almost poetic that shovels in the ground on May 6, 2024, marked the beginning of construction efforts to build the National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture at the Nebraska Innovation Campus at the University of Nebraska. Thanks to a partnership between the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), and the Nebraska Innovation Campus, the research center will seek to push for opportunities in agricultural innovation well into the 21st century. Originally from Augusta, Georgia, Chavonda JacobsYoung is the USDA Chief Scientist and Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics. She noted that there’s been a long history of scientific collaboration between the ARS and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Updated facilities ensure our best and brightest scientists work in the environment and with the tools they need to successfully meet the challenges agriculture faces,” according to Jacobs-Young in an article recently published by the UNL. Because science never stops moving forward, Farms.com Precision Ag Digital Digest monitors how our production systems and ag landscapes are changing thanks to digital technologies. For example, precision ag technologies all need to have the latest tools and information. Farmers across the US and Canada need to have high-speed internet service available to keep their vehicles running at optimum crop development performance. Having up-to-date—up to the second tools and data— helps the farmer and the farm equipment and tools make the best-informed decision for their own unique farm situations. Although precision ag also includes technological equipment and machines, the new National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture will instead examine key research areas to provide answers to certain challenges and promote, it is hoped, the ultimate sustainable, resilient, and highly efficient agriculture practices for farmers to follow and use to gain better crop yields and maximize profit margins. Of course, Mother Nature will still have to cooperate. But even with that big “what if,” the researchers have big hopes for this new center.
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