Ohio State breaks ground on new Multispecies Animal Learning Center

Clayton Miller
Wed, 07 Feb 2024 01:11:49 +0000
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Exterior renderings of the planned Multispecies Animal Learning Center, expected to open Winter 2025. Courtesy of College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences

Ohio State broke ground on a new high-tech farm animal education facility, which will serve as the headquarters for students to learn the science and methodology of raising livestock when completed in winter 2025.

The Multispecies Animal Learning Center, which will be situated on the 261-acre Waterman Agricultural and Natural Resources Laboratory, began construction Jan. 30. Students and faculty in agriculture can use the space to learn how to care for a wide range of farm livestock and perform academic research on agriculture methodology.?

The center will also teach the public what goes into food science and livestock care, allowing tours of the facility that will include a public viewing area of animal barns and interactive learning displays, according to the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences website.

Cathann Kress, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said the center is a “game changer” critical to the future of the college’s educational goals.?

“It is integral to our vision for Waterman and will be a world-class facility that brings people and animals together for hands-on learning, engagement and programming,” Kress said.?

A new modern dairy facility will also be constructed at Waterman, which will feature robotic milking technology and the latest in dairy technology, feed systems and waste management, according to a CFAES press release. This facility is also expected to be completed in winter 2025.?

“The construction of this facility presents an opportunity for even greater engagement with the broader university — our students, our faculty and our staff. It will be an opportunity to showcase all the tremendous work that takes place here at Waterman and how food really reaches from farm to plate and everything that goes into that,” Elizabeth Harsh, executive director of the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association and Ohio Beef Council and an Ohio State trustee, said.

The college also received $10 million from the Ohio legislature and a $4 million investment from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in November 2023 to aid with the construction of the center, according to the release.?

“We’re just so proud of what’s happening right now with this new project,” Devin Fuhrman, Nationwide’s chief agriculture and sponsor relations officer, said. “Nationwide is a company founded by farmers. Being able to invest in the future of agriculture is so important to us. We hope we can provide pathways to create opportunities for students of all ages to find their way to a career in agriculture.”

The new center will also work with OSU Extension — CFAES’ initiative to bring the college’s scientific discoveries to Ohio’s agricultural community —- and youth development programs, such as 4-H and Future Farmers of America, according to the press release.?

“It’s going to bring schoolchildren, in grades K-12, here to learn about career pathways,” Kress said.?

University President Ted Carter Jr. also spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony, highlighting the “critical” importance of agriculture for not only Ohio but the nation and world.?

“This Multispecies Learning Center is going to benefit our students by providing hands-on training that leads to careers in animal agriculture,” Carter said. “It’s going to benefit the industry by being a hub for research and workforce development. It’s going to benefit our state broadly as agriculture is Ohio’s No. 1 industry. This university exists to serve and this new facility is going to help us better serve the state of Ohio.”

Following the ceremony, Dewey Mann, director of Waterman Lab, said the new facility will demonstrate the extent to which popular STEM fields are present in agricultural science.

“It’s about innovation [and] discovery,” Mann said. “It’s about insects; it’s about genetics. All that happens in agriculture and some of those technologies start here because food production is so fundamental.”