North Carolina A&T State University will lead a project aimed at connecting rural underserved and small farms together across the state.
The CROPS [crops] project is funded by a $1-million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program, which provides funds for research in non-medical fields. CROPS stands for Climate, Responsive Opportunities in Plant Science.
Gregory Goins is the Associate Dean for Agriculture Research at NCA&T and lead of the project.
"So, specifically over the next two years, CROPS will engage stakeholders through convenings workshops, listening tours, and it's with the key stakeholders and agriculture, farmers," he said, "And by doing this, we hope to tie together a 42-County Ag Tech Corridor."
Wilson, Nash, Edgecombe and Johnston, as well as Forsyth, Bertie, and Martin are among the 42 counties taking part in the project.
CROPS will also bring together researchers from East Carolina University, Duke, and N-C State as well as Wake Forest University and U-N-C.