Next Generation Agriculture: Engine for Robust, Adaptive Rural Innovation
The Next Generational Agriculture project—or NextGA—aims to catalyze innovation in Georgia’s No. 1 industry by leveraging local farming communities, Cooperative Extension relationships, and research and development talent within the state’s two land-grant universities, the University of Georgia and Fort Valley State University.
NextGA will apply a breadth of expertise to help Georgia’s farmers achieve “Ag 4.0”—a combination of advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and precision agricultural technologies to propel modern agriculture forward and address global food security.
Our goal? Working with 20 counties in south Georgia—representing a diverse population of roughly 650,000 residents—we will build a prototype that will serve as a national recipe of inclusive, community-driven collaboration for facilitating “innovation in place” in the rural communities that feed the United States and the world.
NextGA is funded as “NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing Next Generation Agriculture in Southern Georgia,” Grant No. 2303322. NSF Engines is a bold new project aimed at significantly expanding the United States’ innovation capacity by investing in key areas of national interest and economic promise in every region of the country.