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Progress 2021 • Maryville Forum
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Northwest set to open Agricultural Learning Center By GEOFFREY WOEHLK The Forum
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Through a landmark effort, Northwest Missouri State University is set to open a new, state-of-the-art Agricultural Learning Center this summer. The 29,500-square-foot, single-story, pre-engineered metal building will include classroom, laboratory, kitchen, exposition and office spaces at the university’s R.T. Wright Farm. The student spaces will allow for research and scholarly activities centered on crop, soil and livestock resources, as well as space for processing agricultural products. And the multipurpose areas could be used to hold public and private functions such as producer and agricultural industry meetings, workshops, shows and career development events, and the promotion of agricultural literacy. The university expects the facility will help the School of Agricultural Sciences address enrollment and program growth, which has skyrocketed over the last decade: about 12 percent of all students at Northwest last year held a major in the school, and the university’s agricultural business program is the largest in the state. Additionally, the center will help address infrastructure needs at R.T. Wright Farm related to academic facilities, parking and farm production, and its learning opportunities will enable innovation and partnerships to address best practices for the campus and the School of Agricultural Sciences. “The Agricultural Learning Center is not only going
GEOFFREY WOEHLK/THE FORUM
ABOVE: Crews from contractor E.L. Crawford work on the Agricultural Learning Center. The facility is expected to be ready in the summer of 2021. BELOW: Shown is a rendering of Northwest Missouri State University’s Agricultural Learning Center at R.T. Wright Farm in Maryville. to be a tremendous resource for the students in the School of Agricultural Sciences, but it will be a great resource for other students here at Northwest Missouri State University, the community and the industry as a whole,” said Rod Barr, director of the School of Agricultural Sciences, in a statement. Gradually since its conception in 2014, the university has raised money and built support among alumni, state officials and regional partners. More than $6 million has been raised for the center, with leading support provided by nearly 50 public and private donors who have joined the university’s Homesteaders society by providing gifts toward the project of $25,000 or greater. Northwest has also received $2.5 million from the state of Missouri as well as an equipment grant award
of $343,000. The efforts culminated in a groundbreaking in April of last year — held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think this is a landmark for the university,” Barr said last year. “I remember (Northwest President John Jasinski) talking about it being a linchpin. Well, we just
put a stake in the ground. I’m very excited.” The cost for the facility itself is estimated at about $9.8 million, but the addition of a turn lane off of U.S. Highway 71, paving a drive to the new center and other roadwork pushed the total cost up to about $11.4 million. The final piece of the funding puzzle fell into place
in October when John Cline, a 1975 graduate of Northwest, pledged a six-figure gift to meet the remainder of the fundraising goal. Cline, a member of the Northwest Foundation’s Board of Directors and whose family had owned the land that will house the center prior to Northwest, cited his parents and his sister, as well as
former Northwest President Robert Foster and current President Jasinski as motivating factors for his gift. “Family is everything,” Cline said at a Board of Regents meeting where he announced his gift. “I’m able to give, and I just thought it was a great thing to do.” Jasinski said at the same meeting that the Agricultural Learning Center wasn’t just a victory for the university, but the region. “Three years ago, we (heard from) our neighbors down in St. Joe — in the business community, academic leaders and so on — they were talking about the Ag Expo Center down there, and they told us not to build our Ag Learning Center,” Jasinski said at the time. “John Cline just put that right there and said, ‘it’s done.’ … The Ag Expo Center will not exist down in St. Joseph. That’s because Northwest does what we say we’re going to do.” Although the Northwest Foundation’s fundraising goal for the project is fulfilled, support is still being sought. The university has committed more than $2 million to the project, and any additional funds raised will allow the university to direct those funds to other campus needs. Furthermore, additional funds raised will assist outfitting the facility’s laboratories and classrooms with the most up-to-date equipment and technology. For more information about the Agricultural Learning Center or to make a gift to support the project, visit nwmissouri.edu/ForeverGreen/AgCenter/support. htm, call 660-562-1248 or email advance@nwmissouri.edu.
