Thriving Together

The North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (N.C. PSI), the global hub for plant science innovation, brings together the brightest minds in academia, government and industry to drive vital research and innovation that:

• Increases crop yields
• Creates new plant varieties
• Extends growing seasons
• Enhances sustainability
• Develops world-class talent
• Produces new and improved technologies

 Our partnerships in Action

Improving Profitability:
Big Data for Better Sweet potatoes

When it comes to growing sweetpotatoes, North Carolina is a superstar – growing more than the next three states combined.
To help improve farmer profits, an interdisciplinary team of NC State researchers are partnering with SAS and Intero Life Sciences to use artificial intelligence to image hundreds of thousands of sweetpotatoes to increase the percentage of USDA grade 1 sweetpotatoes grown.

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Activating Big Data:
N.C. PSI, SAS to Harness the Power of Data

SAS was born at NC State, where the company’s first project was analyzing crop yield data. SAS is forging a new agricultural technology business unit to help growers and agribusiness leaders turn the vast amount of farm and agricultural data into insights that inform safe and secure food production.
“We’re at a critical point in human history where the threat of widespread hunger is more real than ever,” said SAS CEO Jim Goodnight. “We have the opportunity to help farmers be more productive through the power of AI and analytics and get more food from fields to tables around the world.”

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Interdisciplinary Focus:
Partner Profile: BASF Renews Its Partnership with NC State

Peter Eckes, president of BASF Bioscience Research, renews a five-year research agreement and partnership with NC State to tackle significant challenges and opportunities that will ultimately benefit our communities and society overall.
“We are looking for breakthroughs — novel things that we can bring to our customers and the market,” said Eckes. “This is vitally important for us, and expectations are high. But I think we want to keep the expectations high to create energy and enthusiasm with all the scientists that are working together from NC State and BASF.”

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Problem-Solving Research:
Partner Profile: The USDA Agricultural Research Service

USDA Agricultural Research Service Administrator Chavonda Jacobs-Young is no stranger to the long partnership between NC State and the agency.
“At the new Plant Sciences Building, ARS and NC State scientists will use new high-throughput electronics and machine-learning approaches to speed up genetic field testing,” said Jacobs-Young. “Their aim is to deliver a new drought-tolerant soybean variety to producers and consumers using innovative state-of-the-art facilities, technologies and skills.”

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Challenge focused. Impact driven.

“With NC State, we have a partnership that delivers real outcomes for the world.”

Brian Brazeau
President of Novozymes North America
Vice President, Agricultural & Industrial Biolsolutions, Americas

N.C. PSI is the Go-to Partner for Agriculture Solutions

We break down academic and research barriers to cultivate, support and sustain science teams focused on:

Improvement Through Innovation

Our mission is to improve the world through plant science innovation. Our vision is to be the world’s premier plant sciences enterprise accelerating discovery, talent development and applied solutions that solve agricultural challenges through interdisciplinary, team-based science.

Explore how we Think and Do.

Let’s Thrive Together

Learn how you can partner with our team to tackle the grand challenges facing agriculture.

Partner with N.C. PSI