The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board has awarded a $15 million grant to the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment for the renovation and expansion of UK’s Grains Center for Excellence in Princeton, Kentucky.
The award, which must be matched by the university, will fund updated and new meeting facilities, laboratories and offices. The renovation plans also call for a boost to the center’s high-speed internet capabilities, which would allow professors at the center to teach classes for students in Lexington.
The improvements will also enhance the college’s extension, research and teaching capabilities and give center personnel the space to host additional educational workshops and trainings. While grains are in the center’s name, all commodity areas based at Princeton, including beef cattle, forages and pastures, and horticulture, are expected to benefit from the improvements and expansion.
“The center will benefit Kentucky producers by providing new applications and technologies resulting in increased yields, reduced inputs and higher economic returns,” said Rick Bennett, UK associate dean for research and director of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, in a media release on the grant award.
Pulaski County farmer and Kentucky Farm Bureau President Mark Haney said he was pleased to see these funds allocated for the Grains Center of Excellence, a project the organization has supported since its inception, in keeping with its long-standing history of supporting agricultural research.
“Field crops contribute nearly $3 billion annually to Kentucky’s economy, and research is a critical component to that industry. This facility will take the outstanding efforts made at the UK Research and Education Center to a higher level, addressing the unique challenges of feeding a growing world population in the decades to come,” he said. “The center will not only be helpful to farm families but will be beneficial to all Kentuckians.”
Chad Lee, UK grain crops specialist, will be named as the center’s director.
“While this idea began with grain farmers, we are excited that this funding will strengthen all areas of the center and renew our focus on grains and forages to positively impact at least another generation of growers,” Lee said. “I am humbled by the tremendous amount of faith the growers and state leaders have placed on us to make this center a reality.”