UGA Grand Farm Rapidly Transforming Into Southeast Hub For Ag Tech Innovation

JORDAN POWERS

ATHENS, GEORGIA

With cotton, soybeans, corn, pecan trees and peanuts already in the ground and irrigation systems installed, the 250-acre University of Georgia Grand Farm is looking dramatically different than it did just over a year ago at its May 2025 groundbreaking.

“2025 was about building the foundation and 2026 is about building on that foundation,” said UGA Grand Farm Regional Director Kaytlyn Cobb. “We’re laying the groundwork for a self-sustaining, nationally unique agricultural innovation system.”

A new model for ag innovation

With UGA Grand Farm, the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciencesand Grand Farm – a leading innovator in agricultural technology – have created a robust regional agricultural innovation ecosystem in Perry, Georgia.

While the last year has seen explosive growth, the roots of this partnership go back to 2019 when University System of Georgia Chancellor Sonny Perdue helped inaugurate Grand Farm during its launch ceremony in North Dakota while serving as U.S. secretary of agriculture. UGA Grand Farm was first announced in June 2024.

At both sites – in Perry, Georgia, and Fargo, North Dakota – growers, researchers, startups, corporations, educators and public leaders can come together to solve real agricultural problems with applied technology.

In Georgia, UGA Grand Farm aims to move innovations beyond Perry and into the hands of growers across the state. The innovation farm develops and demonstrates new agricultural technologies and automation, with a focus on Georgia’s specialty crops and Southeast agriculture.

It’s already accelerating faster than the team and stakeholders imagined.   ∆

JORDAN POWERS

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA