So, Dr. Thomas, I want to turn to you and ask you, what interested you in serving on the Advisory Council for Ground Truth? And why is collaboration between research, producers, and industry leaders so important as we move this initiative forward?

Thank you for that question, Scott.

What interested me the most about having the opportunity to serve on this advisory council is the chance to contribute to a conversation that is directly related to the well-being of our stakeholders at North Carolina A&T State University, as well as the land grant system at large.

I do a lot of work in cooperative extension, developing agribusiness and marketing-centered programs in order to help farmers who are new or continuing balance their production capabilities with their business sense and know-how in order to continue to grow profitable and economically sustainable enterprises.

And one of the challenges to that, especially for newer individuals, as Vicki mentioned, younger individuals who are trying to get into the agricultural space or even veterans that I've been able to talk to who are interested in doing this post their service, is that access to land and is understanding how to maximize what you can do with what you have while also recognizing where that need for expansion might be and what are the challenges to expansion from a land perspective.

As an asset, it's extremely important because it's the only asset that we have that we cannot make more of.

There is no more land.

So why is it important to connect these particular pieces together?