-Submitted illustration
Construction is set to begin this summer on the Alliant Energy Agriculture Innovation Lab within the Iowa State University Research Park. The facility, which will be a hub for digital and precision agriculture, is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2024.

A hub for digital and precision agriculture has been established within the Iowa State University Research Park.

Called the Alliant Energy Agriculture Innovation Lab, the facility will provide more than 85,000 square feet for ISU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Digital Ag Innovation team, as well as agriculture-based business tenants who can all access technology, research and development, plus collaborate with each other regarding innovation opportunities primarily focused on digital and precision agriculture.

Construction should begin this summer and be completed by the fall of 2024.

The facility will pair collaborative office and agricultural workshop space while more than 70 percent of the building will feature high bay and lab space. The ISU digital and precision agriculture program will use the new space to grow and hopefully become a world leader in ag tech innovation, leaders note.

It also will include an atrium and shared conferencing spaces to encourage teamwork between stakeholders.

-Submitted illustration
The Alliant Energy Agriculture Innovation Lab will provide more than 85,000 square feet for ISU’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Digital Ag Innovation team. The facility will pair collaborative office and agricultural workshop space, while more than 70 percent of the building will feature high bay and lab space. The ISU digital and precision agriculture program will use the new space to grow and hopefully become a world leader in ag tech innovation, leaders note.

The research team, led by Iowa State professor Matt Darr, is responsible for more than 50 percent of industry research at Iowa State. The team boasts more than 70 patents and distinct tech transfer outcomes, as well as 32 products sold globally that impact agriculture daily.

Alison Doyle, associate director of the Agriculture Innovation Lab, said the location of the Agriculture Innovation Lab allows for immediate access to production farm ground. The lab will allow for advancements in agriculture across many levels.

“Our researchers and students and industry partners will be able to work on a machine and then take it out into the field and test it, then come back to the high bay/shop space and iterate and make changes immediately based on what they are learning in the field,” Doyle said. “Iowa State’s Digital Ag Innovation team has outgrown their current space and the team has additional demand from corporate partners at Iowa-based ag companies to continue to serve more companies.

“ISU Research Park also is near capacity and needed additional tenant space, and in recent years ISU Research Park has experienced an increased need for collaboration and high bay spaces.”

Iowa State’s corporate partners also are interested in the space to bring students and industry together to showcase innovations and keep young talent in the state.

“Our employers that are working with this team are not only getting their research and development needs met, they are actively recruiting highly trained technical talent right into their companies,” Doyle said. “Discussions are already underway with multiple Iowa State colleges, student groups and external partners to bring a wide variety of events and opportunities for students, thought leaders and innovators to come together in the space.”

The ISU Research Park also features the John Deere Research and Development Facility, AgLeader, Sabanton, Mach and others. Nick Peterson, strategic partnerships manager for Alliant Energy, said that Alliant Energy became a tenant in the park in 2019 and saw great value in what the research park could offer the university and the business community.

“We’re always trying to figure out how best to serve our customers and our communities to increase economic and community development,” Peterson said. “We saw a gap in ag technology and no place for a centralized hub for the ag tech community. There are lots of great startups in the ag tech sector across the state and Marr Darr’s group is doing phenomenal work.

“We saw an opportunity to become the connective tissue that brings it all together in the state of Iowa.”

Five years from now, Peterson foresees the Agriculture Innovation Lab functioning as the gateway into a larger project at the research park that’s next to the research farm.

“There’ll be a corridor of research farms to the west of this project and to the south. We see the

Ag Innovation Lab as being the starting point, the front door so to speak, to the ag innovation that’s happening here and will continue to happen,” Peterson said. “ We want to be the accelerator that shows this is where it happens. We’re bringing in not just the large John Deere and Monsanto companies, but also smaller companies who are innovating in the ag space.”

Peterson grew up in Madrid, and watching the growth firsthand in the ag tech sector for the past 10 years has fueled his excitement for the new lab.

“This really gives Iowa State a flagship facility to highlight ag tech. I’m partial to Iowa State, and Alliant Energy is so excited to be the fuel for this fire and watch the opportunities unfold, to watch more companies be drawn here, new students learning here and eventually working here after graduation and making Iowa State, Ames and the surrounding area a vibrant place for ag tech innovation,” Peterson said. “At the end of the day, we’re thinking beyond and being bold.”