The Agriculture Innovation Initiative brings together the best minds across campus and industry to tackle complex challenges
Silos are great when it comes to storing grain but not for launching game-changing ideas into the world.
Segregating research by academic discipline leads to siloed thinking. But diversity of thought, attacking a problem from different points of view and areas of expertise — that’s where the magic happens.
That’s why K-State is breaking down silos with the new Agriculture Innovation Initiative.
New and renovated facilities will pull together the best minds from across campus to take on the biggest global challenges, such as water conservation, farming in a changing climate, and ensuring we have a safe and sustainable global food system.
Here are the key ingredients to make this bold initiative successful:
Building smart spaces
The facility upgrades and expansions will amplify grain, food, animal and agronomy research.
The Agronomy Research and Innovation Center will combine research teams from across campus to advance crop production, soil health and water management. Experts will develop new solutions that are resilient, efficient, profitable and sustainable.
The Bilbrey Family Event Center is a new multi-species competition space to support teaching and both youth and extension efforts in equine and livestock sciences. As a place to host rodeos, horse shows and 4-H events, the arena can also boost economic development and student recruitment.
The Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation will strategically connect K-State’s world-renowned animal science and food science programs with our unique grain science programs to address both opportunities and challenges facing global agriculture.
Campuswide brainpower
Solving big problems requires a new way of working.
It involves knocking down boundaries between traditional academic subjects to address complex issues that cannot be fully understood using a single disciplinary perspective. The goal is to reach deeper understanding by considering a challenge from multiple angles — and incorporating insights from many areas of expertise.
Beyond focused efforts on cutting-edge research and industry-changing products and solutions from K-State’s top-ranked College of Agriculture, the innovation centers will draw the brightest minds from the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Engineering, Health and Human Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine to catalyze interdisciplinary teaching, learning and research.
Bringing together interdisciplinary clusters of faculty in these spaces will create a dynamic environment where different skills and experiences comingle to advance science at a much faster pace.
Working with industry partners
All of society, including industry, will benefit from innovations made through this new approach. Food and agriculture leaders such as the Kansas Farm Bureau, Kansas Soybean Commission and Ardent Mills have invested in the initiative. Partnerships between K-State and industry will generate production and business solutions, provide learning opportunities for the existing ag-sector workforce and build a talent pipeline for future ag leaders.
Optimizing solutions
KSU Foundation and the College of Agriculture worked with donors to take advantage of a 3:1 funding match from the state of Kansas that generated $125 million for this project in record time. Fundraising continues toward a $210 million goal.
It’s a pivotal moment for K-State — and even the world.
“Kansas State University has an inspiring opportunity to help the world’s ability to feed 2 billion more people by 2050. To contribute to a Kansas economy that thrives. To optimize agriculture for the highest levels of efficiency and yield,” said K-State President Richard Linton. “Now’s the time to invest. The sky’s the limit.”
