Farmer Innovation Bridge Launches, Centering North Carolina Farmers in Agricultural Innovation

NC Ag Leads announced today the launch of the Farmer Innovation Bridge. The new initiative will connect challenges and opportunities identified by North Carolina farmers with innovators developing new technologies, tools, and solutions. The goal is to shorten the time it takes for promising solutions to move from concept to application on North Carolina farms.

Building on the work of NC Ag Leads, the Farmer Innovation Bridge will be led by the NC Chamber Foundation with support from the Golden LEAF Foundation and the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. The Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors has awarded $2.15 million to support the launch and implementation of the initiative.

“Through the NC Ag Leads initiative, leaders identified aligning technology supply and demand as a priority for the future of the sector,” said Golden LEAF President, Chief Executive Officer Scott T. Hamilton. “The Golden LEAF Board of Directors sees the Farmer Innovation Bridge advancing that priority by better connecting the organizations, expertise, and resources already supporting North Carolina farmers, helping those resources work together more effectively to address farmers’ real-world needs.”

Extensive engagement with farmers and agricultural stakeholders during the NC Ag Leads strategic planning process revealed North Carolina has strong agricultural research, innovation, and farmer networks, but lacks a consistent mechanism to connect those resources with the real-world needs of farmers.

The Farmer Innovation Bridge will fill that gap by starting with farmers. Farmers will help identify and prioritize challenges; innovators will develop and refine potential solutions; and promising solutions will be tested under real North Carolina agricultural conditions. Lessons learned will be shared so farmers, innovators, and others across the state can benefit.

“From the beginning, NC Ag Leads has been about listening to the people who know North Carolina agriculture best and turning what we hear into action,” said Ray Starling, NC Chamber general counsel, president of the NC Chamber Legal Institute, and leader of NC Ag Leads. “The Farmer Innovation Bridge is that work in action, putting farmers at the center and creating a pathway to turn their real-world needs into practical solutions that strengthen their operations and North Carolina agriculture.”

The NC Chamber Foundation hired Dr. Katherine Drake Stowe to serve as executive director of the Farmer Innovation Bridge and lead the initiative from concept to implementation. A North Carolina native who grew up on a farm in eastern North Carolina, Stowe brings deep agriculture industry experience to the role. Stowe most recently held leadership positions with the United Soybean Board and U.S. Soybean Research Collaborative.

“We are proud and excited to partner with the NC Chamber Foundation and Golden LEAF Foundation on this important initiative to help North Carolina farmers elevate their operations and embrace new opportunities,” said William Upchurch, executive director of the NC Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. “The Farmer Innovation Bridge will connect the real-world needs of farmers with available technologies, resources, and innovative solutions designed to strengthen farm operations, increase productivity, and help advance North Carolina’s number one industry—agriculture.”

Rather than creating a new research institution or standalone accelerator, the Farmer Innovation Bridge will connect and strengthen resources that already exist across North Carolina, working alongside partners including the NC Department of Agriculture, NC Cooperative Extension, NC Plant Sciences Initiative, and NC Biotechnology Center to help move solutions into the hands of farmers.

Learn more about the Farmer Innovation Bridge at https://www.ncagricultureleads.com/.