SSGA gathers for board meeting, gets first look at Ag Innovation Campus

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) board made their way to Fargo, N.D., Sept. 13-14 for the organization’s quarterly board meeting.

Before they got down to business on Thursday morning, the board toured Grand Farm during the Grand Farm Field Day featuring Nutrien.

Grand Farm, established in 2019, is a “network of growers, technologists, corporations, startups, educators, policymakers and investors working together to solve problems in agriculture with applied technology.” With a brick-and-mortar campus under construction in rural Casselton, N.D., Grand Farm will soon have a permanent home.

Created to solve the biggest problems in agriculture, Grand Farm is home to a wide variety of research plots, including a KWS Seeds sunflower plot that is testing a laser scarecrow.

“Partners come to us and explain their vision of what could happen out here, what they’re trying to test, and why they’re trying to test it,” Grand Farm Director William Aderholdt said. “Then we work with them to get plots put out. We make sure that from end to end they’re successful whether that be making sure the environment is ideal or making sure that planting happens on time or finding the right farm management contractors or doing data collection. All those things are really important to the work that we’re doing.”

During the field day, SSGA board members were able to tour the plots, learning about the research being conducted throughout the farm from Program Manager of Field Operations Ann Nobriga.

At the board meeting, the board discussed strategic marketing plans outreach, upcoming events and heard action team and administrative reports. After the meeting wrapped up, the board traveled to Crookston, Minn. for the Ag Innovation Campus (AIC) Phase One Grand Opening.

“What makes this facility so amazing is the vision and the mission that it is going to hold for agriculture,” Acting AIC CEO Tom Slunecka said in his opening remarks. “Not only will the AIC empower the value of agriculture in the region and add value with new employees to the city of Crookston, but this facility is going to change agriculture as a whole.”

The AIC is a not-for-profit facility that will produce an estimated 240 tons of soybean meal daily, equaling a grand total of 62,400 tons of soybean meal per year. With three independently operated mechanic crush systems, the AIC will be able to crush organic, non-GMO and GMO soybeans.

Phase one – the crush plant – is the first of the three-phase project. Phase two will feature an office complex and research labs. Phase three consists of rentable discovery bays that will be available for short to midterm use. Companies can then use the space to prove their designs at full production scale. The “Crushwalk” will also allow visitors to view the processing facility in a safe and bio secure manner.

“We’re going to develop and process products that consumers want today and tomorrow, not yesterday,” Slunecka said. “That’s the whole point of this center.”

SSGA will holds its next board meeting Thursday, Nov. 30 in Bloomington, Ill.