Rachel Gabel
Colorado State University opened the doors to its first experimental station since 1996. More than 100 guests were on hand at the CSU Spur for a presentation and tour of the Metropolitan Agricultural Research Center, or MARC. Land-grant universities have a mission to look far ahead and solve agricultural challenges, and that’s what CSU does.
MARC will focus on urban agriculture, organic farming methods and harnessing the latest agricultural technologies. During the grand opening, attendees were able to taste tested strawberries, participate in a pickling workshop and tour greenhouses, agrivoltaics and other agricultural research facilities in a controlled environment.
Most of the state’s nine other research centers focus on various segments of Colorado agriculture. The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, or CAES, was established by the Hatch Act in 1887 to create research centers connected with land-grant universities to conduct research in unique regional environments to address agricultural challenges.
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At ARDEC in Fort Collins, research focuses on various cropping and livestock systems, plant breeding and seed augmentation. At Rocky Ford, research focuses on vegetable crop development and systems and water use; in Akron, research centers on cattle production, breeding and pasture management. At Walsh, research focuses on drylands and limited irrigation cropping systems; at the Center, research focuses on the selection, storage and production of potatoes; At Yellow Jacket, research centers focus on dryland and irrigated crops, soil health and alternative crops. At Orchard Mesa, research on fruit trees and vines is being conducted; at Fruita, water-saving growing systems are central research topics, and at Hotchkiss, research is conducted on fruit trees, vines and cover crops.
It’s interesting, but it doesn’t necessarily draw a crowd and engage them in their learning.
Conversely, Eugene Kelly, director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, said school buses line up every day at the CSU Spur campus, bringing students and adults to campus to get an up-close look at agriculture in the middle from Denver. Kelly said 85 percent of Colorado residents live in urban and suburban areas, so it’s a unique opportunity to study agriculture where most people live. Food production systems in urban ecosystems are obviously different from the ecosystems in which dryland wheat production and feedlot livestock production are studied, and therein lies its value. With 85% of voters living far from production agriculture, it is important that they support the industry. The consequences of this alternative are now playing out on the state and national scene.
The center features greenhouses, hydroponic systems, growth chambers and community gardens, all driven by technological changes. There is also a food innovation center that can develop new pickling technologies or even a new type of potato pancake. It’s literally where technology meets the plate.
Kelly, who spent much of his career overseas, said the technology studied can translate to other production systems and allows a little-studied ecosystem to be accessible to people interested in food . The station’s staff is also diverse in their backgrounds.
While working in South Africa, he said he would drive out of Johannesburg and see people walking from the city to rural areas to work in agricultural production. Kelly said he then wondered why food couldn’t be grown where people lived. Clearly, the space available has limits and is unlikely to be able to feed the planet on a large scale. However, it helps when kids get their hands dirty, taste a fresh strawberry you helped grow, and have dignity in growing food and supporting families. It’s about, Kelly said, cultivating resilience in cities.
Kelly said during the ceremony that agriculture is humanity’s greatest industry. Not only does everyone eat, but food must be grown, harvested, shipped, sold, prepared, etc., which touches everyone’s lives in multiple ways. Investing in food, investing in people’s understanding and appreciation of the industry that feeds them, and making agriculture accessible to the 85% of urban dwellers is money well spent.
Rachael Gabel writes on agriculture and rural issues. She is an assistant editor for Fence Post Magazine, the region’s leading agricultural publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle ranching families. She is the author of children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.