The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) has launched a national listening tour to inform the development of a National Academy of Agriculture (NAA), a proposed institution that would provide American agriculture with a forward-looking national strategy function for the first time.
CAST CEO Dr. Chris Boomsma is leading the tour alongside CAST’s Strategic Advisory Council (SAC), convening sessions with leaders across agriculture, research, technology, and investment in regions across the country. The sessions are designed to gather candid perspective from the people closest to American agriculture’s most pressing challenges — and to pressure-test the ideas that will shape what the NAA becomes.
The first session took place in June at the NC State Plant Sciences Building in Raleigh, North Carolina, hosted in partnership with the NC State Plant Sciences Initiative and the NC Chamber. Dr. Adrian Percy, Venture Partner at Finistere Ventures and a leading figure in agricultural science and technology, provided the welcome and helped frame the discussion.
“American agriculture stands at an unusual moment,” said Dr. Boomsma. “Scientific advancement is accelerating, global competition is intensifying, and the economics of farming continue to shift — yet agriculture remains the only major innovation-intensive sector in the United States without a national strategy function. Defense has DARPA. Energy has ARPA-E. Health has NIH. The National Academy of Agriculture is meant to fix that.”
The listening tour is ongoing. Additional sessions are planned across the country in the coming months. CAST will share updates as the tour expands.
Organizations and leaders interested in participating in future sessions are encouraged to follow CAST’s progress at cast-science.org and across social media:
- X / Twitter: @castagscience
- Instagram: @castagscience
- Facebook: @castagscience
- YouTube: @castagscience
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/castagscience
