The funding is through the state Commerce Department’s Autonomous Agriculture Grant Program. The state Legislature in 2021 made $10 million in federal funds available for the program. Grand Farm was the sole recipient of that grant round.

Robotic weeding, using drones and incorporating data from soil sensors and images to feed into artificial intelligence are some of the components of autonomous farming. The state also has provided money for a program to use drones to scout for weeds.

“We anticipate more application of artificial intelligence solutions that can keep our farms efficient, financially healthy, safe and allow our producers to have the best tool possible to do what’s best for their farm,” said Tehven, co-founder of Emerging Prairie, a Fargo-based technology company.