Autonomous Agriculture Grant Program

The Autonomous Agriculture Grant Program is administered by the North Dakota Department of Commerce to support large-scale initiatives that advance autonomous agriculture across the state. This grant program will distribute up to $7.5 million, either as a single award or split across multiple projects, to encourage transformational investments in next-generation agricultural technology, infrastructure, and workforce systems. The state seeks to build on its strengths in agricultural innovation and rural development by attracting proposals that are ambitious, collaborative, and capable of driving measurable outcomes. Eligible applicants for this funding opportunity include nonprofits, public-private partnerships, and industry consortia that maintain a permanent presence in North Dakota. Applicants must demonstrate a capacity to manage substantial public funding with clear reporting and accountability measures. All proposals must include a detailed project concept, financial contributions from the applicant, and a deployment timeline, with all awarded funds required to be expended by June 30, 2027. The scope of allowable expenses is broad and includes land acquisition, facility construction or retrofitting, field testing infrastructure, workforce development initiatives, project staffing, R&D for automation technologies, and technology transfer efforts. However, retroactive land purchases (those incurred before grant agreement execution) are not eligible. Salaries for project managers and other operational expenses are considered allowable under this grant. Proposals are due by 5:00 PM CST on October 2, 2025. Applicants must email their completed proposal packages, including narratives, budgets, and letters of support—particularly from North Dakota-based entities—to Shayden Akason at sakason@nd.gov. The full proposal should be no more than 10 pages, excluding appendices and letters of support, and must clearly address all eight evaluation criteria. Projects will be assessed using a 100-point rubric that emphasizes advancement of autonomous agricultural practices (20 points), workforce development (15 points), commercialization and infrastructure readiness (15 points), innovation and research capacity (10 points), collaboration across the ecosystem (10 points), use of unmanned systems (10 points), measurable economic impact (15 points), and project feasibility/readiness (5 points). The final awardee(s) will be chosen by a multi-agency review panel and may be subject to negotiated deliverables before final contracting. Questions and clarifications can be directed to Mr. Akason at the provided contact. The Department of Commerce reserves the right to refine project scopes and budgets prior to finalizing awards. No recurring or rolling application periods have been announced for this program, and the current cycle does not indicate a repeating annual or multi-year schedule.

Strong proposals should emphasize collaboration with ND-based entities, demonstrate economic impact, and fully address the evaluation criteria.