The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has launched a new research network aimed at testing and advancing agricultural technologies – including those employing artificial intelligence (AI) – under real-world farming conditions.
The network initiative, announced on April 17, is designed to evaluate how emerging tools perform on farms and ranches while helping to accelerate their adoption across the agriculture sector.
USDA officials said the effort reflects a broader push to ensure the technologies deliver measurable value to producers.
The network – dubbed the USDA National Proving Grounds Network for AgTech (NPG-Ag) – is focusing on validating both existing and emerging agricultural technologies, particularly digital and AI-driven tools, USDA said.
Its goal is to provide farmers and ranchers with reliable performance data to inform investment decisions and reduce uncertainty around adopting modern technologies.
“By establishing a coordinated national research network to objectively validate new and emerging technologies, especially digital and AI-driven technologies, we are helping ensure row crop, specialty crop, and livestock producers all have access to reliable performance data for their investment decisions with a goal to accelerate adoption of AgTech innovations,” said Scott Hutchins, USDA under secretary for research, education, and economics.
At its core, the network will operate through a “proving grounds” model – testing technologies in real-world production environments rather than controlled settings. That approach aims to generate practical insights on how tools perform in day-to-day agricultural operations, including their impact on costs, labor demands, and efficiency, USDA said.
The effort is also designed to support collaboration between public and private sector partners to refine and improve emerging tools.
The initiative is being led by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), working with other research agencies, alongside land-grant universities that will serve as testing and research partners across the country. Agricultural technology companies will be able to submit products for evaluation through the network.
Serving as USDA’s national program manager for the effort is Grand Farm, a North Dakota-based ag-tech ecosystem and innovation testbed.
“ARS has long played a vital role in driving productivity gains and strengthening the global competitiveness of U.S. agriculture by delivering scientific solutions to our nation’s most pressing agricultural challenges,” said Joon Park, ARS administrator.
“As the lead for USDA’s NPG-AgTech, ARS remains firmly committed to ensuring that emerging technologies are rigorously evaluated through a transparent, science-based process supporting their adoption,” he said.