K-State breaks ground on Agronomy Research and Innovation Center

K-State agronomy department head Raj Khosla said in a statement Monday that the new facility will serve as a “cornerstone for critical infrastructure for the success of our research, teaching and extension missions.”

“In the last 10 years alone, the Department of Agronomy has conducted more than $50 million of research that is initiated right here at the Agronomy North Farm,” Khosla said in a statement. “The new Agronomy Research and Innovation Center will bring research teams together from around campus to create new discoveries and solutions that will address the wicked challenges we are facing in agriculture today, and the ones that will come in the future.”

Khosla said some of the research projects planned for the K-State Agronomy Research and Innovation Center include:

• How to breed new crop varieties that are prolific and resilient to pathogens and the changing biome.

• How to extend the supply of water by studying the most efficient use of that resource in crops and forages.

• How to solve the “mystery of trillions of microbes that reside in soil” to improve soil health.

• How to use and co-create technology so that farmers of the future can produce more with less inputs.

“I’m so excited what this can do and what the future holds for agronomy and for the entire K-State campus,” Khosla said.

The Monday groundbreaking marked K-State’s official kickoff of more than $125 million in agricultural infrastructure improvements planned through 2026. Last fall, the university launched a campaign to raise $75 million toward campus projects, which include a Global Center for Food and Grain Innovation and improvements to the livestock competition area, Call Hall and Weber Hall.

K-State President Richard Linton said Monday the university exceeded its goal, raising approximately $80 million in four months, which was then matched by a $25 million challenge grant from the Kansas legislature, and $25 million more from an initial legislative appropriation.

Linton said the four-month window in which the university raised its portion of the money “has never been done so quickly at K-State.” He added that K-State continues to raise funds toward a projected $210 million in agricultural infrastructure improvements to nine facilities over the next several years. University officials have raised $140 million toward that bigger goal so far.