Grand Farm: Bridging the gap between ag and tech

In this episode of Straight Talk with NDFB, hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Dr. Ruchi Bhardwaj, Grower and Education Program Manager for Grand Farm.

Ruchi was born and raised in New Delhi, India and moved to Fargo in 2009 to attend NDSU, where she met our co-host, Alisha Nord. Ruchi has a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate – all from NDSU. She joined the staff of Emerging Prairie where she eventually became the Grower and Education Program Manager for Emerging Prairie’s agricultural branch, Grand Farm.

Join us for our conversation with this fascinating woman and learn about what Grand Farm is doing to bridge the gap between agriculture and technology.

Learn more about Grand Farm https://grandfarm.com

Contact Ruchi ruchib@grandfarm.com

LinkedIn profile: ruchib@grandfarm.com

Contact our Host Emmery Mehlhoff emmery@ndfb.org

Transcript

[Straight Talk theme]

[00:11] Emmery: Welcome to Straight Talk with NDFB. I am your host, Emmery Mehlhoff.

[00:14] And Alisha Nord.

[00:16] Emmery: We are your Farm Bureau duo bringing you your competitive edge. In this episode, we visit with Ruchi Bhardwaj from Grand Farm in North Dakota. Grand Farm is a collaborative network of growers, people in technology, corporations, educators, policymakers and investors who are working together to solve problems in agriculture through ag tech and innovation.

[00:39] Alisha: Today we talk about what Grand Farm hopes to achieve within North Dakota and globally, along with talking about their new site, location and upcoming events, and how to engage youth in North Dakota ag.

[00:51] Emmery: Join us for this episode.

[Straight Talk stinger]

[00:55] Alisha: Hi, Ruchi.

[00:56] Ruchi: Alisha! Hi!

[00:58] Alisha: So we are going to just jump right in if you would like to just tell us about yourself, your background, college career, and then maybe how you ended up with Grand Farm.

[01:08] Ruchi: Sure. Hi. My name is Ruchi. Full name is Ruchi Joshi Bhardwaj, and I hail from almost 7250 miles away from Fargo, North Dakota. I'm originally from New Delhi, India. I came to North Dakota for a school. I went to NDSU to get my undergrad, master's and PhD, all from the same school. And I got my undergrad in biotechnology. My master's was in environmental sciences and my PhD is also in environmental sciences, but my research area was more on the environmental engineering, so wastewater engineering side. And I worked as a licensed water treatment plant operator for five years, as I was working on my PhD. And as I was wrapping my PhD dissertation, I came across this opportunity where I actually connected with Greg Tehven, who is the CEO of Emerging Prairie, which is also the parent company for Grand Farm. And they were at that time doing some work with the FM diversion project. And because I had my expertise in water and wastewater, I was blessed enough to get connected and I started working part-time as an intern for Emerging Prairie. 

At that time, my role was to completely focus on writing grants for Emerging Prairie, which also included their three subsidiary organizations, which are all nonprofit. They have a startup program arm, they have Emerging Digital Academy, which is a coding boot camp, and then of course, Grand Farm, which is the agtech arm. And so, yeah, so I was writing grants, and as I wrapped up my PhD dissertation, I came full time as a project coordinator, which allowed me to further engage and establish an agtech ecosystem for Grand Farm. And now currently I work as a grower and education program manager. So I'm working with farmers and ranchers and all the grower associations and councils and everybody in the K through 20 arena of education.

[03:18] Emmery: Could you tell us a little bit about what Grand Farm is?

[03:21] Ruchi: Oh, yeah, absolutely. So, Grand Farm is a nonprofit organization. We're basically a network of growers, technologists, corporations, startups, educators, policymakers and investors who are all working together to solve problems in agriculture with applied technology. When I say applied technology, I want to clarify that we don't manufacture any technologies at Grand Farm, but rather we bring or convene people who are actually doing that work together to solve these problems in agriculture. And one thing that I'd like to highlight is that Grand Farm was actually developed to fill the gaps where agriculture and technology converged. So we're trying to bridge the gap between ag and technology.

[04:08] Alisha: I just have to say it, as a fellow Bison graduate, I just have to say "Go Bison." Because for us and it's actually funny because Ruchi and I actually were in a class together at NDSU and what was it like the first time we met to kind of talk about Grand Farm and maybe a partnership, we both were like, gosh, you look familiar. There's something familiar. And then we finally put it together that we had a class together. So that was really fun.

[04:39] Ruchi: Yes, that was human communication class just for everybody who might be curious.

[04:45] Alisha: You have a very good memory. So within Grand Farm, what do you see? I mean, I know there's many different arms to Grand Farm and everything that you guys are doing, and it's still fairly new, but what are some goals that you guys hope to achieve? I guess my first question within North Dakota and then later on globally.

[05:10] Ruchi: One of our goals is to bridge the gap. And that's something that we try to do through our ecosystem, the different events and conferences that we host because a lot of the times we come across that there are so many organizations in both agriculture and technology sectors who are doing amazing work. However, sometimes they just end up being in their different silos. And one of the things that we observed when we hosted these events was this great collaboration that happens when all these positive minds come together because essentially all the organizations, whether it is yours or the one that I'm working in, they have their own individual resources. But it's when they come together and they find a common interest and they collaborate and bring their own resources, the impact is so big, it's so meaningful and impactful. And that's something that we've tried to focus on. 

At this point, we're trying to focus on leveraging the agriculture in North Dakota. And eventually our hope is to have a model that can be applied to the world. And the strategy that currently we focus on is looking at the gaps that we have. So, for example, we've worked on creating a grower pain point report where our intention was to actually connect with the growers, go out with the farmers and ranchers and learn about their challenges. Their challenges, and what do they hope that the different folks in the agriculture industry should know about. 

So to dimplify, for example, there are so many startups who come to North Dakota because I feel like the world is getting to know know, North Dakota has such an amazing agriculture here, right? So, so many people want to invest here. So many people want to open their own startups and industries here. What they don't really sometimes understand is the audience, the growers, the land, right? Maybe something that has worked tremendously in California or Florida might not work here in North Dakota. Well, if you think about the soil that's in Red River Valley area is so much significantly different than what we have in the western part of North Dakota. And this is one simple example that I often share with the startups that we meet with, because oftentimes their [solution] probably does not really serve the growers over here. So that's one of our strategies, focus on the gaps and figure out how our ecosystem can possibly find those solutions. And our hope is that we can apply this model globally so that we can focus on challenges that are different outside of North Dakota. And eventually, once we scale up our own model, we can have a global ecosystem where we are able to solve these problems together in a very collaborative environment.

[08:10] Emmery: Can you go a little bit more into what you mean by your ecosystem? Can you just describe for us a little bit what you mean by that?

[08:19] Ruchi: Yes, absolutely. I apologize if I caused any confusion. So when I say ecosystem, I am talking about the network of people we work with. So different segments like the technologists, the corporations, the startups, educators, policymakers and investors. And at the center of all of this, we have growers, which means the farmers and ranchers and all the associations, we're working with them, because at the end of the day, growers are the end users and they are the ones who give the feedback about different technologies that we're trying to bring into our region. 

And the grower pain point report that I talked about, that's just one of the things that Grand Farm has worked on since 2020. When we were operating out of Horace, we would host these events and conferences under a large gazebo, because if you remember, we had the COVID time going on. However, that situation worked really well in Grand Farm's favor, because we could host events that allowed people to come out and see more human faces while attending all these events, maintaining more than 6ft of distance, for sure. 

We had these conversations, we hosted listening sessions with the growers to trying to figure out what are their different challenges. So that's 2020 was the time when we first published that report. It's still on our website, I believe. And based on that website, we came across this company called Boson Motors that's based out of California. The CEO for Boson Motors is actually an ex Google employee, and he had actually come across that painpoint report and he used that report and created this company where they've actually created an autonomously driving electric utility truck and the USP [unique selling proposition] of this truck has been the price. It costs between 25 to 30 K, and it seems like that's been a huge hit with the growers, with the kind of things that this truck has to offer. So we wanted to further build on this report because we thought maybe this report is a good resource for our ecosystem members. So this time we wanted to be more strategic, meaning we wanted to identify these challenges and then categorize them. When I say categorize, if you look into the report that is also on our website, by the way. So these are bullet points and it addresses what a farmer or a rancher would want a policymaker to know. Like what are the different challenges? So what should an educator know, what should a researcher know? For example, one of the things that popped up was growers are very much aware that technology is changing significantly. However, the growers are not able to keep up with all the, with the pace with which the technology is changing, and so they expect the education system to also develop at the same pace. To be updated. We need to have more, for example, coding courses to be introduced in schools because now as the tractors, if you may say, or different technologies that are used on the farms or ranch, they are no longer easy enough to be repaired by the growers. They have to depend on their dealers who would then call a person who would come to fix their technology on their farm when it is needed the most. However, if you have a child or like if there is a kid in the neighbor who is educated enough to fix those kind of things because it's no more fixing the buyers, it's no more nuts and bolts that can be fixed and that would solve the issue. Now things are becoming very software oriented. There is so much of artificial intelligence and software and data involved that it requires a skilled person to fix them. So the growers, they want the educators and researchers to focus on curriculum that can be brought into the schools so that we can keep up with the technology early enough and give that exposure to our kids and the youth.

[12:21] Alisha: You had also mentioned your new site location. But before we get into that, can you explain a little bit for our listeners, especially those within North Dakota that are on the verge of doing a startup? If they reach out to Grand Farm, what can they kind of expect from you guys? Like what kind of help or what direction do they take when they contact you?

[12:45] Ruchi: So depending on what the startup wants to do, we are more than happy to get them connected with different partners. We can get them involved in our different events and conferences. They have the opportunity to showcase their work, whether it is through demonstration or speaking engagements. And if they have any opportunities to do things for our educators or students, we'd love to include them in our educational workshops as well. And then the next thing, as you pointed out, Alisha, is talking about the Casselton facility that we have. So we have acreage at Casselton and if the startups are interested, they can collaborate with different partners who are already having projects out there, or they can also host their own projects at the site. And so we have a project management office specifically dedicated towards this work. Our team can help them in whatever ways they would like to have help in.

[13:42] Alisha: So Grand Farm essentially is kind of the middleman. You aren't the startups, you aren't the end technology user, you are just trying to connect those people so that they can help each other.

[13:54] Ruchi: Absolutely, yes. And we do have our own site and we help by bringing these people together through different events and conferences and even provide a space if different organizations would want to host their own events at our site.

[14:12] Alisha: So can you talk a little bit more about your site? Where it's at, what kind of building it is, what's all going to be taking place at the Grand Farm location?

[14:21] Ruchi: Yes. So Grand Farm's Innovation Facility as it's known, it's located in Casselton and it provides a place-based experiential environment based on the foundations of the ecosystem and project management office that Grand Farm has. The facility was made possible by a $10 million grant from the State of North Dakota. The city of Casselton represents the convergence of ag and technology with entire value chains present within 5 square miles. The facility will be experiential focused environment, immersing the visitors in what the future could look like and how they can be a part of it. While the experiences will be captivating, they will also be functional real world projects, advancing agriculture technology visibly. As partnerships and collaborations form, this facility will be leveraged by partners for innovation sprints, bringing multidisciplinary teams together to rapidly ideate, develop and test their products. So basically it's open for everything at this point.

[15:23] Alisha: That's awesome! So when will the facility be completed and start tours? Because I'm excited to go over there and get one.

[15:30] Ruchi: So the tours we are actually hosting field days once per month. Everybody is more than welcome because it's open to public and then so you talked about the facility, Alisha? We are optimistic by next year. So, April 2024, we will have the innovation shop ready by then. So, yeah, the construction work has started, the work is in progress. So keeping the fingers crossed, next year in April, we should have a building ready up and going.

[16:03] Alisha: I know you kind of know a little bit about Farm Bureau, but we are very student-focused and educating youth on agriculture and where their food comes from. And so do you see a lot of local area schools coming and touring your facility?

[16:19] Ruchi: Absolutely yes. And first of all, I must express my gratitude to North Dakota Farm Bureau for your mission, for your vision, and all the support that you've provided, not just to Grand Farm, but to other organizations as well. We were very fortunate to have North Dakota Farm Bureau's support for our recent workshop that we hosted during Cultivate Conference for the educators, which allowed us to provide these educators with professional development credit. Another event which is targeted towards third through sixth graders, called Livestock Bonanza, and North Dakota Farm Bureau is playing a huge role. Thanks to Alisha. Huge shout out to you, Alisha, collaborating with Grand Farm for providing financial support and also hosting all the workshops.

[17:06] Alisha: We're very excited to be a part of that and to be able to help you guys, because like I said before, working with youth is very important to us. So that's a great connection that we have, and hopefully our partnership continues well into the future.

[17:21] Ruchi: No, we have those same mutual feelings, Alisha. And since you touched upon the education topic, Alisha, I'd just like to briefly highlight about how Grand Farm looks into the education element. Because, as I mentioned, we started doing a lot of work with higher ed, meaning the universities, because it was easy to work on different projects with universities such as North Dakota State University because they have a precision ag department. And eventually we found that this year we were piloting our engagement with K through Twelve. Now, K through Twelve is a large gradient, so we wanted to be strategic, how we can cater to the audience. So, as I mentioned, we host three annual conferences. The first one is space ag. We wanted to highlight and focus on the high school students there, give them the hands on workshop experience to get them excited about ag. The second is the Cultivate workshop, where we host an event for workshop for the educators to connect them with the industry leaders so that they can have access to these people if they want to host any tours of the industry or do any job shadows for their students or themselves. And during Autonomous Nation, which is the third annual conference that Grant Farm hosts, we hosted a workshop that was open for both educators and students where they can actually navigate and explore careers in autonomous industries. So we had people talking about marketing, flying drones, being an educator, et cetera. 

And so that allowed us actually to identify different challenges in agriculture and how Grand Farm would want to explore solutions to those problems. So we broadly explored six big challenges in agriculture that we want to focus on, and the first one is shortage of people entering in ag. The second is lack of support for ag educators. Third is the gap between science and ag educators. The fourth one is older versus younger generations of ag educators. Fifth is industry and educational institution collaboration. And last one, but not the least, lack of diversity in ag. And when I say diversity, I'm not talking about the women participation but more on the BIPOC community representation and the New Americans whom we see largely entering into the Midwest region and also in North Dakota.

[19:43] Alisha: As we all know, there's lots of people out there that still think farming and ranching is sitting in a tractor or moving cows and it's very narrow minded as like that is what you do. And to be able to open up these students and even other people's adults eyes of just so many different opportunities that there is within the agricultural industry, I mean, it truly does affect every single person. And so I just think that's wonderful that you guys are really showcasing all the different benefits of the industry.

[20:17] Ruchi: Absolutely. And I must say, Alisha, that a lot of the motivation came by interacting with students not just from the urban cities but also from the rural areas of North Dakota. During working on the Grower Pain Point report that we launched this year, biggest part of the motivation was when I came across that a lot of organizations like North Dakota Farm Bureau and different commodity groups, they have a huge budget to focus and support these kind of initiatives. And we thought there is a gap and there is also the support from the community. So again, it all comes back to just bridging that gap and we're trying our best to take these small, meaningful and intentional initiatives to bridge that gap.

[21:04] Alisha: That's great. So just one last thing here. If anybody wanted to connect with you or Grand Farm, what's the best way to do that?

[21:13] Ruchi: Oh, yeah, I have my profile on LinkedIn if there are people using LinkedIn. Otherwise, my email address is my first name. R-U-C-H-I-B. That's my last name, Ruchib@grandfarm.com. Otherwise you can go on Grandfarm.com website and you can find all the contact information. Alisha, you have my phone number, so feel free to share that with anybody who's interested to connect with Grand Farm or myself. I would love to take the time and answer any questions or be very open to any know. The more we can come together, the bigger the impact we can make in our region. So really excited for that.

[21:57] Emmery: Well, thank you again, Ruchi, for meeting with us today and being on Straight Talk with NDFB. Appreciate your time.

[22:04] Ruchi: Thank you. Thank you both Alisha and Emmery, appreciate you for inviting me. It's been a pleasure. Have a great one.

[Straight Talk stinger]


[22:13] Emmery: You've been listening to Straight Talk with NDFB. To learn more about how NDFB can give your farm or ranch a competitive edge visit us at ndfb.org.

[Straight Talk theme]