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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Dear Colleagues:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black">We wanted to take an opportunity to introduce you to the National Agricultural Producer Data Cooperative (<a href="https://agdatacoop.org/">NAPDC</a>) and alert you to a funding opportunity. The NAPDC was launched in November 2021
through a USDA-NIFA funded project to bring together diverse national and regional stakeholders to develop a blueprint for a national data framework. This framework is intended to benefit agricultural producers first and foremost. Key to drafting the blueprint
is garnering input from those active in the field such as yourself. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black">Initially, the NAPDC will focus effort in two areas: educational webinars and a
<b>competitive grants program</b>. The webinars will focus on the needs of the community relative to a national distributed data framework and emerging technologies/methods to enable such a framework. The competitive grants program is intended to enable national,
regional and/or domain-specific stakeholder groups to host meetings and encourage broad and diverse participation in blueprint development. These starting points are opportunities to be part of the initial, foundational conversations and contribute your voice
to the conceptualization and eventual construction of a national framework. To date, a total of $500k has been appropriated for this project to support broad producer and stakeholder engagement. As additional funds are appropriated, we will need your help
in advising the USDA on how to distribute these funds towards building a national framework. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<b><span style="color:black">We will host a launch webinar for the NAPDC from 1-2:30pm CST on Monday, January 24<sup>th</sup>, 2022</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color:black"> </span></span><span style="color:black">(<a href="https://www.agdatacoop.org/webinars">registration
open</a>!) where we will introduce the project, website, planned activities, and discuss the request for proposals. We will provide information about how to sign up for our listserv; engage in webinars, either as a participant or presenter; and submit a proposal
to convene a group of stakeholders in your region/domain or among clientele with whom you work. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black">We hope you will join us in this exciting opportunity to shape a data cooperative that puts the needs of agricultural producers first and foremost. Please forward this email as appropriate to interested parties in your network.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black">Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black">The NAPDC Executive Board at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jennifer Clarke<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Trenton Franz<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Liz<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="spelle">Lorang</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Joe Luck<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Matt Spangler<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Laura Thompson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="color:black"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="spelle">Hongfeng</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Yu<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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