AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University and Alliant Energy have partnered to open the Agriculture Innovation Lab where technology on the front lines of agriculture will be developed.

The Iowa State Digital Ag Innovation Lab is part of the Iowa State Research Park at 3800 University Boulevard in Ames, and it’s 85,000 square feet provide a state-of-the-art agriculture development facility for staff, students, and ag companies.

“The collaboration was an opportunity to really drive digital and precision agriculture right here, to not only benefit Iowa State University in this area, but the Midwest and really beyond, probably throughout the world,” said Mayuri Farlinger the president of Alliant Energy Iowa.

Dr. Matt Darr is the director of the Iowa State Digital Ag Innovation team and hopes the specialized labs will create new opportunities for agriculture machinery and technology.

“Our goal in our organization is to continue to serve our niche, that we help connect talent to the industries and the tech pipelines that need to continue to grow new jobs here in Iowa and in helping our companies and our communities, we continue to flourish,” said Darr.

Digital Ag currently has 59 products being sold and distributed worldwide, including crop-yield sensors and AI technology to identify empty spaces in crop storage containers.

“These are things we’re really proud of because these are innovations that have come out of Iowa State but have gotten into the hands of farmers and growers throughout the world to help them in their businesses to feed and provide fuel for everyone,” said Darr.

The facility helps connect ISU students to agriculture companies and allows them to develop, test, and implement digital technology to make agriculture more efficient and profitable.

“The outreach that we’re going to be able to have, we’re going to be able to educate some of our newer students and we’re really going to be able to help bring Iowa together by having a facility that we can really promote the agriculture that we have,” said Ben Covington a test engineer with Digital Ag.

Ben says the new facility provides more than just testing labs, it also provides space for researchers to bring in equipment to learn and test on.

“One of the things that I’m really looking forward to is just being able to have a facility large enough that we can start to bring in that commercial equipment that our farmers use every single day. And that’s one of the key things that this building provides,” said Covington.

The Digital Ag Innovation Lab won’t only serve students and researchers, it will also serve the farming and agriculture community.

“We added in training spaces to do more with farmer-based education through extension and outreach, we’re training the next generation of workforce through upskilling programs, which offers continuous education to current people that are employed,” said Darr. “We didn’t have those opportunities previously, so we’re super excited about the growth potential and how that will expand our service mission.”