EOU’s GO STEM wins Oregon Ag Fest award for AI agriculture program

Eastern Oregon University’s Greater Oregon STEM Hub, known as GO STEM, earned first place in the 14th annual Oregon Ag Fest Agricultural Education Awards for its Artificial Intelligence and Agriculture program, taking home a $2,000 prize after reaching nearly 500 middle and high school students and more than 70 agriculture and CTE teachers across Union County and six other eastern Oregon counties.

The award was presented during the 2026 Oregon Ag Fest in Salem. Oregon Ag Fest, a volunteer nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about agriculture, says the festival draws more than 23,000 people each year. Its education awards are meant to recognize projects that teach Oregonians about agriculture beyond the annual event; for 2026, eligible work had to be completed in 2024 or 2025, and the prize pool could total as much as $4,500 among three winners.

For Union County classrooms, the program matters because it brings artificial intelligence and satellite data into lessons about crop monitoring and water management. GO STEM’s service area spans Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker, Grant and Harney counties, a 38,000-square-mile region where access to specialized STEM instruction can be uneven and where agriculture remains central to the economy.

GO STEM is led by an advisory board with representatives from those seven eastern Oregon counties and centers its work on STEM Awareness, Pipelines and Pathways, and STEM Systems for Education. The hub’s larger mission is to connect industry, education, business and government partners while improving STEM access across Greater Oregon, so students in places like La Grande, Union and other rural communities are not left out of the technology changes reshaping farm work.

Elaine Swanson designed the AI + AG program and was appointed GO STEM’s Technology Workforce Exploration Educator on May 28, 2025, a role funded through Future Ready Oregon. Swanson has pointed to her own research background forecasting 90-day water volume for Phillips Reservoir with satellite snow imagery and Hydromet data as proof that the tools moving into agriculture are already tied to water decisions that affect farmers across eastern Oregon.

Dr. Stefanie Holloway said the recognition reflects GO STEM’s commitment to free STEM programming that prepares students for the future workforce and the needs of their communities. That future is big: the Oregon Department of Agriculture says agriculture generates $5.5 billion in farmgate value and $42 billion in statewide economic activity, with more than 225 commodities in the state’s system. For Union County families, students and ag employers, the award puts a regional spotlight on training that connects local classrooms to the skills eastern Oregon agriculture will need next.