North Dakota
Grand Farm opens new building aiming to put North Dakota at forefront of agriculture innovation
CASSELTON, N.D. — Grand Farm hosted the grand opening of their new Innovation Campus shop west of Casselton, North Dakota, on Monday, June 10.
Elected officials, agricultural industry and business leaders came together for the opening to celebrate the culmination of years of hard work between a number of groups and organizations.
“This is a partnership like none other in the world of precision agriculture,” U.S. Sen. John Hoeven R-ND said. “Without a doubt, North Dakota is leading this country, the world, really in precision agriculture.”
Hoeven also announced at the opening that this summer, he will hold a field hearing of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee at the
Grand Farm Innovation Campus
.
“It’s not only because we want to continue to shine a light on exactly what we’re doing here, but also because we’ve got a lot of people that want to come find out about what they’ve heard about,” Hoeven said. “This is really the future of agriculture in so many ways and that’s why so many people want to be a part of it and why they’re so excited about it.”
For Dennis Kemmesat, CEO of Frontier Precision, Grand Farm will help provide them easier access with growers to provide them with solutions for problems on the farm.

Contributed
“Being able to showcase the really advanced technology out here that growers are going to need in the future to be productive and be profitable, I think that’s the most exciting part about it, because there’s not really one place that can showcase all of this technology,” Kemmesat said.
Frontier Precision is a Bismarck, North Dakota, based company that has been in the drone space around the last 10 years and entered the precision agriculture industry around a year and a half ago. Kemmesat said that as a North Dakota-based company, it was a natural fit to join in on the Grand Farm venture and he is excited to see what the future holds.
Kennedy Tesch / Agweek
“We wanted to be part of being a sponsor and help grow that community,” Kemmesat said. “This was really an easy fit for us to be involved with and the ag side is something more new to us, but we’re excited to be in it.”
Grand Farm is also led by a grower advisory board which features a number of growers around the state who will help provide insight into the challenges, needs and issues facing producers in agriculture.
Kyle Courtney is a fifth-generation farmer from Oakes, North Dakota, where he grows corn, soybeans and wheat. Courtney is one of 11 producers serving on the grower advisory board.
Kennedy Tesch / Agweek
“It’s a group of us farmers that get together on a quarterly basis to sit down with them and then explain our problems that we’re seeing in the field,” Courtney said. “They use their connections and reach out to people in the technology department, whether it’s universities, startups — that entire ecosystem, and explain the problems that we have as producers and try to figure out solutions to what we are running across.”
Courtney believes some of the biggest challenges he sees as a producer are herbicide resistance and trained labor, which are both issues being tackled by Grand Farm and he believes the new addition of the building to the campus “is going to be a huge ramp up for their game.”
“It’s great that they’re starting to work with these technologies before they become mainstream. Producers come out and see Grand Farm, what they’re building, and look at these technologies in the field to see if it will work for their operation,” Courtney said. “I think that’s an invaluable aspect and it gives us a glimpse around the corner to see what’s coming so we can prepare operations for those types of situations or for those technologies that are coming down the pipeline.”
The Grand Farm event served as a kickoff for
AgTech Week
, an agriculture and technology focused week hosted by a group of organizations in Fargo.
Kennedy is a reporter for Agweek based out of South Dakota. She grew up on an organic crop farm where her family also raises cattle in eastern South Dakota. She graduated from South Dakota State University in 2023 with a major in agricultural communication and minor in agricultural business. She enjoys connecting with producers and agribusinesses across the region while reporting on all things agriculture.
North Dakota
Wintering Well Series Back For Another Season At McKenzie Co. Heritage Park & North Dakota Oil Museum
For those who are looking for community interaction, interested in learning an old-fashioned skill, or just simply looking for a way to offset those winter blues, join McKenzie County Heritage Park & North Dakota Oil Museum, 904 2nd Ave. SW, Watford City, for another season of Wintering Well: Slow Down & Savor. Classes begin Jan. 2, 2026, and will continue the first Friday of each month through the winter, 5-7 p.m. CT..
The holiday season is a time where many remember and honor past traditions, though it can also be a time where the usual business of life gets ramped up. In this modern word, we are heavily inundated with outside pressures that tell us to “keep busy and work harder”. Technology can be a constant pull, drawing us away from quiet connection.
But, for many of the people who settled and lived in this region before us, life, the holidays and winter in general carried a different feeling altogether. The winter season was often a time that was looked forward to and folks seemed more willing to go along with nature rather than struggling against it. Winter is a time of rest and renewal. A time for life to slow, and strength and energy to be gathered for spring, summer and fall. With the cold winter outside their doors, people were content to sit by the fire, catch up with friends and family, and engage in pastimes that were both fun and functional.
These Hygge style Wintering Well evenings offer an opportunity to slow down and savor this time of year. Bring a crocheting, knitting or embroidery project or start a new one. Even if you have no experience with these skills, bring a crochet hook and some yarn and other participants can help you get started. In addition to learning new skills and practicing existing ones, there is good conversation to share, new relationships to foster and snacks will be served.
These classes are intended for adults, but tweens who want to learn are welcome to come along with their parents. There is no charge to join, but donations are always welcome.
Take a step back from technology and busy schedules to reconnect with the old-fashioned life at these cozy, creative sessions, and Winter Well this season.
For more information, visit McKenzie County Heritage Park & North Dakota Oil Museum’s Facebook page or call them at 701-842-6434.
North Dakota
‘Changed me and saved me’: AIR program in North Dakota helps those in recovery
EDITOR’S NOTE: For help with substance abuse or addiction, North Dakota residents can contact the All of Us In Recovery program at
allofusinrecovery.com
or the North Dakota Department of Human Services at
hhs.nd.gov/behavioral-health
. National help is also available at 1-800-662-4357.
FARGO — A special program for those battling addiction in North Dakota is finding huge successes with a state program called “All of Us In Recovery,” or AIR.
The proof can be found in the lives now changed because of the team approach.
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