Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler sits down each week with Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison to discuss “Today’s Topic.”
The NCDA&CS Research Stations Division received $2.5 million in the current budget to modernize its equipment and technology. This equipment has begun to arrive on the stations, including at Central Crops Research Station in Clayton, where Commissioner Troxler, commodity leaders, researchers and others gathered Monday to demonstrate it.
Because of a provision in the budget, the department was able to stretch that money further by trading in old equipment when purchasing new.
The new equipment and technology, which includes GPS-guided auto-steer tractors, will enable the stations to be more efficient in their research efforts and will help farmers meet future food, fiber and fuel needs.
The department has a unique research partnership with N.C. State University and N.C. A&T State University. The researchers come up with the research models and plans, and the NCDA&CS staff manages the prepping, planting and harvesting.
Click on the audio player below to listen to Commissioner Troxler and Rhonda discuss technology upgrades at the state’s agricultural research stations.
[Audio:http://info.ncagr.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Troxler_6-3.mp3|titles=Today’s Topic for June 3]
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UPDATE: View photos from the event on our Flickr photostream.