Proposal Spends $68M In Federal Stimulus Funds On TN Agricultural Research Labs
Photo: A load of corn leaves Norwood Farms in Mansfield, Tennessee Photo Credit: USDA / Public Domain
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture presented a plan Tuesday for $68 million in food sustainability spending at a pair of higher education labs to the state’s Financial Stimulus Accountability Group.
The spending would be part of $3.1 billion in federal stimulus spending from the American Rescue Plan Act.
In the funding proposal, $50 million would go to the University of Tennessee for 10 AgResearch and Education Centers across the state and $18.3 million would go to Tennessee State University to create a Center for Food and Animal Sciences.
TSU’s Chandra Reddy, the dean and director of research/administrator of Extension College of Agriculture, said he has had several candidates turn down positions in the past few years because TSU did not have the lab technology available. A new building would push the university and the state’s research forward, he said.
The research in the building would focus on “turning primary grains and meats into products,” according to Reddy, by helping farmers and entrepreneurs create new secondary products with raw materials grown in Tennessee.
“More importantly, we want to bring it to Tennessee companies,” Reddy said. “That’s the focus where this building will provide the visibility, the access, the technologies we are looking for.”
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Hongwei Xin of UT AgResearch said his group has to travel outside of the state for high-tech research, but new facilities would allow his team to “test products, scale them up” and create innovation within Tennessee.
Both research developments would help increase food security within Tennessee, the plan states, while the UT facilities would “accelerate economic recovery, increase the resiliency of agriculture and food supply systems and improve public health.”
“This will help us stay on top of needs that were identified during the pandemic,” Tennessee Department of Agriculture Commissioner Charles Hatcher said.
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
If any economic function could be truly described as basic, it would be agriculture. Agriculture requires land. And land in Tennessee is disappearing under pavement and structures. Agricultural research is not going to solve this aspect of agriculture. The proposed research seems to address only “more”, which is only one aspect of this function. The other, just as important if not more, is “quality”. Food quality has declined significantly in recent years because of intensive farming practices. Soil is being depleted of its organic matter because of these practices. In the interest of maintaining a productive and healthy source of food, this research needs to concentrate on practices that promote soil replenishment, not just more produce. The other, and just as critical issue, is making sure that adequate land is available to farm. This requires the legislature to act.