Georgia has always been a place where agricultural innovation finds a home. From cotton and peanuts to peaches and poultry, Georgia’s agricultural operations have shaped the economy, the culture and the identity of our state. And at the University of Georgia, things have been no different – as a leader in innovation, UGA is always looking for opportunities to propel industries forward into the future. Our newest investment promises to do just that in agriculture. The University of Georgia Grand Farm in Perry, Georgia, promises not only to grow crops that are more resilient and profitable, but also to cultivate an environment that produces new technology, partnerships and opportunities to change how Georgia, and other states in the Southeast, feed the world.
Grand Farm started in North Dakota in 2019 as an experiment to bring researchers, producers and tech developers into the same field, both literally and figuratively, to develop new strategies in agricultural production. By building a space dedicated to testing cutting-edge practices and technology, the goal was to accelerate solutions for food production and sustainability. Grand Farm North Dakota is up and running, and this new partnership between UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) and Grand Farm has created the opportunity to bring the same vision to the Southeast for the first time. Here at CAES, we’re proud to be leading the next generation of innovation through UGA Grand Farm.
Nick T. Place
Situated on 250 acres near the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter, UGA Grand Farm broke ground in May 2025 and we’ve been working hard since then to build a strong foundation for this new venture. For researchers and developers, UGA Grand Farm presents an opportunity to test ideas and technologies outside controlled plots and inside working fields where soil, weather, pests and weeds present real-world challenges. Precision irrigation systems can be evaluated in Georgia’s climate, robotics and autonomous tractors can be pushed beyond prototypes and into practice, and drones and sensors can gather real data that will help to address issues in plant health, fertilizer use and harvest timing.
We’re looking beyond opportunities to test new technologies now and toward recruiting the next generation of leaders in agriculture and the environment for the future. Students, from elementary school to college and beyond, will have the opportunity to learn about our agricultural system in a brand-new way — and to see how they might fit into that system in the future in ways they may not have considered possible. Our hope is that UGA Grand Farm becomes a living classroom for students all across the state.
By fostering collaboration between UGA CAES, industry partners and entrepreneurs from around the world, UGA Grand Farm has the potential to be a hub for agricultural startups across a broad variety of industry sectors. There are folks across the region, nation and world who are working to address some of the most critical questions in agricultural production, and we want to bring them to South Georgia in the hope that the unique climate and soil will give them a chance to test their technology in a new environment. Innovations tested here have the potential to lower costs, conserve resources and make Georgia farms more resilient than ever.
As agriculture becomes more data-driven, UGA CAES and UGA Grand Farm are ready to bring technology to local producers in ways that make a meaningful difference in their daily lives. Through UGA Cooperative Extension, we have an exciting opportunity to expand the work we already do to support Georgia producers by providing new training opportunities for county agents, exposure to novel solutions and ideas from all over the country, and a home where questions are welcomed and answers can be expected.
UGA Grand Farm is a window into the future of agriculture here in Georgia – one that looks toward innovation and leans into new ideas, all while carrying forward the deep-rooted tradition and legacy of agriculture in Georgia.
Nick T. Place is the dean and director of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
