New Mexico State University opens new agricultural buildings
Attendees, including New Mexico Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, center, tour the new Food Science, Security and Safety Center on the Las Cruces campus during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 3.
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Two new cutting-edge agricultural buildings opened at New Mexico State University earlier this month.
Ribbon cuttings were recently held for the Food Science, Security and Safety Center and the Animal Nutrition and Feed Manufacturing Facility on NMSU’s campus in Las Cruces.
The buildings were funded by general obligation funds that voters approved in 2018 and 2020. Construction began in 2021.
A biomedical research building that is still under construction is also part of the same funding source, according to NMSU.
“The buildings themselves are a great moment in the history of agriculture in New Mexico,” College of ACES Dean Rolando Flores Galarza said. “They are two buildings, but the areas they’ll work on are very extensive. It connects from the farm to the table and picks up all the byproducts to make an efficient system. We’ve never had something like this in New Mexico.”
The Food Science, Security and Safety Center will be an international hub for food safety and security along the U.S.-Mexico border. It was have six state-of-the-art laboratories to research food processing, dairy science, fermentation, minimizing water in food production and other areas. The facility will also support value-added agriculture,
The Animal Nutriction and Feed Manufacturing Facility will consolidate NMSU’s livestock education and research enterprise into a single feed mill. That will give students, researchers and stakeholders ample space to investigate new feedstuffs and process methods to improve livestock health and productivity.
More than 80% of courses with the Department of Animal and Range Sciences will use the new feed mill.
The college also plans to hire additional faculty to lead research, develop new patents and launch business opportunities and a new doctorate program in food science, among other changes.
“When you look at the two buildings and consider all these components, this is something very different that we’re accomplishing here by combining these efforts,” Flores Galarza said. “These facilities allow us to move forward with three major components of our strategic plan.”
