Construction to begin on new agriculture building
Utah State Agriculture students will soon be in state-of-the-art classrooms that will provide hands-on education, as plans for the new Agriculture Complex and agricultural science building are being finalized.
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Agriculture Complex south of Logan on Highway 89 will take place Friday, Sept. 25, at noon. State and local dignitaries will be present as construction gets underway on the plot of land where nearly 80 agriculture buildings will be combined into one educational facility.
USU officials have said they hope the new complex will help USU’s agriculture program become one of the best in the Intermountain West.
“Utah State attracts some very talented ag students,” said current ASUSU Agriculture senator, Logan Ipsen. “These new facilities will give them the opportunity to maximize their potential and gain USU recognition on the national stage.”
Aside from relocating all of the farm buildings north of 1400 North to the South Farm area, new innovative structures will also be constructed at the complex. According to maps which can be viewed on the College of Agriculture Web site, the complex will also include a veterinary clinic, classrooms, a reproductive laboratory and a harvesting operation, among other amenities. Funding for the project has come from nearly $5 million in government grants, as well as fundraising through alumni and other donors.
A goal that is a bit more distant in the future is the building of a new agricultural science building. High technology building plans are in the works for a 50,000-square-foot structure where the Merrill Library once stood. The building is estimated to cost $90 million, $42 million of which will come from federal sources, says Lee Burke, assistant to the president for government relations.
The current Agricultural Science Building was built in 1953 and presents some significant structural issues, Agriculture Dean Noelle Cockett said.
There is no central air in the building and the electrical work cannot accommodate all window air conditioning units and lab equipment inside, Cockett said.
According to university President Stan Albrecht, the building is a major renovation for the main campus. He said it is anticipated that the new building will house agriculture offices, classrooms and laboratories. Some academic units from other colleges might also be housed in the new facility, so it would serve the
university broadly, Albrecht said.
“The concept is one of the most important and exciting in recent USU history,” Albrecht said. “Much work remains to be done in order for it to become a reality.”
Dean Cockett and many others are still working with the State Board of Regents in order to secure funding for the project, Burke said.
Administrators say they are hopeful that private companies with animal health units, such as Merck and Pfizer, will consider helping fund the monumental project.
“It’s people who believe in what we have done in agriculture in the past and want to help carry us into the future,” Cockett said.
While construction on the agricultural science building will begin in 2009, students and faculty are invited to attend the groundbreaking ceremonies at the South Farm next Friday in support of the College of Agriculture.
sastewart@cc.usu.edu