The Idaho Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment has been making progress on its $45 million project to build the largest research dairy in the nation.
The project has been in the planning stages for over a decade at the University of Idaho and is finally coming into fruition in the coming few years.
Construction should begin in the spring of 2022, according to Jim Miller, director for development and capital projects analyst. The $45 million dollar project is being funded with $15 million donated by the state of Idaho, $15 million by UI and $15 million through outside donors.
In the mid-2000s, the project started out with the main goal of building a research facility to analyze and support the dairy industry in southern Idaho, but it was put on the back burner with large costs and other barriers to consider. Former UI President Chuck Staben later reignited the project and initiated the process of collecting funds.
The College of Agricultural and Life Sciences became involved with the project in 2017, beginning planning for a research dairy, food processing plant and education center.
“The reason of the size is not to build the biggest research dairy,” CALS Dean Michael Parrella said. “It is a dairy that represents the average size of dairies in Idaho.”
There are currently 600,000 milk-producing dairy cows in Idaho’s prominent industry, according to Parrella.
“You think about the dairy industry and what that represents in Idaho,” Parrella said. “The dairy industry represents probably 20% of total agricultural output in the state.”
While the project started off with a focus on dairy, the prominence of cows in the state impacts more than just the dairy industry.
Considerations like crops to feed the cows, manure use and the dairy itself all play a role in the maintenance of the research facility.
Crops such as alfalfa, used as cow feed, have seen increased growth in Idaho over the years compared to its relative absence previously. The project will also look into the use of manure as fertilizer and its impact on soil.
“If we’re going to talk about (the project) in all its complexity, it’s going to be more than just the cows,” Parrella said.
Idaho’s population of 1.8 million people cannot possibly drink all the milk produced in the state, according to Parrella. This is why much of the dairy is processed to make cheese and other products, resulting in an explosion of the state’s dairy processing industry, primarily in southern Idaho.
“Can we develop a new bioeconomy for the dairy industry beyond just milk? That is a big part of the project moving forward,” Parrella said.
The project has three locations across the state for its various research components.
The research dairy and demonstration farm is north of Rupert, Idaho on 640 acres of land, with construction expected to end in 2022 and the introduction of livestock in 2023. The site was bought from a family who had already begun basic construction of roads and corrals for a dairy.
A food processing pilot plant in Twin Falls, Idaho will work in conjunction with the College of Southern Idaho on their campus, providing an educational opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students mainly focused on food science.
The outreach and education center, located in Jerome, Idaho will be used to educate visitors on agriculture and research. The goal is to be using the center by 2023.
Parrella hopes the education center can bring a greater understanding of local agriculture.
“When we envisioned what (the project) would be, it’s basically all of those things,” Parella said. “We added another component to it as well, with the idea of telling the story of Idaho agriculture and where food comes from.”
Carly Schoepflin, CALS director of communications and strategic initiatives, said the project was focused on the Magic Valley for a reason since it’s where much of the state’s dairy and food processing industry takes place.
“It will give (UI) a major presence down in southern Idaho that we currently do not have,” Parrella said. “It will be a situation where we are far more visible.”
Initially, there was hope the different parts of the project could all be in the same place, but according to Parrella, there simply was not a plot of land that could meet all of the project’s needs. This resulted in the different defined stages of the project.
While the CALS will play an obvious role in the agricultural project, the team emphasized its wider reach.
“We named it Idaho CAFE on purpose, instead of University of Idaho CAFE,” Miller said. “Because of that inclusiveness and collaboration we are trying to strike at.”
Schoepflin expressed the project should be bringing in a diversity of people across campus, from engineering to economics.
“This is not all going to be accomplished by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences,” Schoepflin said. “Talking about water use, energy use, natural resources and environmental sustainability, there are pieces of this effort that include all colleges at the university.”
Parrella said the research facility will enable faculty to facilitate research that is unique within the nation, ultimately benefiting everyone.
“In order for (the industry) to be sustainable over the next 50 years, we have to be able to manage what these cows mean in terms of environmental impact,” Parrella said. “That’s the bottom line.”
Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq