



Announcements
Vacancies
- Senior Grower UK
- Customer Support Executive
- Sales Representative Substrates Peru
- Head Grower – High Technology Organic Greenhouse
- Import and Export Sales Manager
- Sales Manager - US
- Key Account Manager (f/m/d) - Full-time
- Vice President of Growing Operations
- Account Manager - Canada
- Account Manager - United States
US: $45 million for NC State plant science center
The Golden LEAF Foundation gave North Carolina State University a tremendous boost forward, awarding a $45 million grant that will help support a new research facility for the North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative in efforts to make North Carolina the global hub for plant sciences innovation.
The initiative is a partnership of NC State University and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Its centerpiece is a $160.2 million Plant Sciences Research Complex planned for NC State’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh. University scientists will work together with government and industry to solve some of agriculture’s most pressing challenges.
NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson said that the new grant is the largest single contribution ever made to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and among the largest in the history of the university.
“This investment further establishes North Carolina and NC State as international leaders in agricultural research and innovation, which will yield significant economic opportunities for our rural communities while providing food solutions to people around the globe,” Woodson said.
Dan Gerlach, president of Golden LEAF, said the investment is consistent with the nonprofit organization’s mission of transforming the economy of rural, tobacco-dependent and economically distressed communities in North Carolina. In accordance with terms of the consent decree, the N.C. General Assembly established the foundation in 1999 to administer one half of the state’s Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers.
“It is our hope, and indeed our expectation, that the Plant Sciences Initiative will catalyze transformational advances in North Carolina agriculture that will benefit the rural economy,” Gerlach said. He called Golden LEAF’s grant “an investment in North Carolina agriculture that will help improve crop yields, introduce new crop and plant varieties, and reduce feed costs for animal agriculture.”
“Our board members recognize that growing agriculture grows rural communities,” Gerlach continued. “It is North Carolina’s top industry at $84 billion annually, with well over 80 percent of total farm gate receipts grown in the state’s 80 rural counties. Our farmers recognize the importance of innovation to the future of agriculture.”
With the Golden LEAF’s grant, more than $9 million additionally contributed to the project by 42 agricultural groups across the state, and $85 million approved by voters through the Connect NC Bond, the project can now move forward.
“More importantly,” Gerlach said, “it gives rural North Carolina a competitive market advantage in feeding, fueling and clothing a growing global population.”
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Richard Linton agreed, noting that “Golden LEAF’s generous investment takes us to $144.2 million of the $160.2 million needed for the complex, with the goal of having world-class plant research facilities complete by 2021.”
Already, he said, “NC State University agricultural research and extension has an annual economic impact of more than $1 billion in rural North Carolina. Our college helps rural N.C. farmers grow more than 90 different commodities across varying climates and soil types, making North Carolina the third most agriculturally diverse state in the nation. Building out the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative will also position our college and our state among the premier plant science programs in the world – establishing us as a powerhouse for agricultural innovation and education.”
Linton shared that most importantly, “With this grant we have the green light to move forward. We can now make the dream a reality starting today.”
For more information:
news.ncsu.edu
The initiative is a partnership of NC State University and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Its centerpiece is a $160.2 million Plant Sciences Research Complex planned for NC State’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh. University scientists will work together with government and industry to solve some of agriculture’s most pressing challenges.
NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson said that the new grant is the largest single contribution ever made to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and among the largest in the history of the university.
“This investment further establishes North Carolina and NC State as international leaders in agricultural research and innovation, which will yield significant economic opportunities for our rural communities while providing food solutions to people around the globe,” Woodson said.
Dan Gerlach, president of Golden LEAF, said the investment is consistent with the nonprofit organization’s mission of transforming the economy of rural, tobacco-dependent and economically distressed communities in North Carolina. In accordance with terms of the consent decree, the N.C. General Assembly established the foundation in 1999 to administer one half of the state’s Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers.
“It is our hope, and indeed our expectation, that the Plant Sciences Initiative will catalyze transformational advances in North Carolina agriculture that will benefit the rural economy,” Gerlach said. He called Golden LEAF’s grant “an investment in North Carolina agriculture that will help improve crop yields, introduce new crop and plant varieties, and reduce feed costs for animal agriculture.”
“Our board members recognize that growing agriculture grows rural communities,” Gerlach continued. “It is North Carolina’s top industry at $84 billion annually, with well over 80 percent of total farm gate receipts grown in the state’s 80 rural counties. Our farmers recognize the importance of innovation to the future of agriculture.”
With the Golden LEAF’s grant, more than $9 million additionally contributed to the project by 42 agricultural groups across the state, and $85 million approved by voters through the Connect NC Bond, the project can now move forward.
“More importantly,” Gerlach said, “it gives rural North Carolina a competitive market advantage in feeding, fueling and clothing a growing global population.”
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Richard Linton agreed, noting that “Golden LEAF’s generous investment takes us to $144.2 million of the $160.2 million needed for the complex, with the goal of having world-class plant research facilities complete by 2021.”
Already, he said, “NC State University agricultural research and extension has an annual economic impact of more than $1 billion in rural North Carolina. Our college helps rural N.C. farmers grow more than 90 different commodities across varying climates and soil types, making North Carolina the third most agriculturally diverse state in the nation. Building out the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative will also position our college and our state among the premier plant science programs in the world – establishing us as a powerhouse for agricultural innovation and education.”
Linton shared that most importantly, “With this grant we have the green light to move forward. We can now make the dream a reality starting today.”
For more information:
news.ncsu.edu
Publication date:
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2023-12-08 New partnership to produce modular farms
- 2023-12-07 Agrospheres compelets expansion of $25M series B round
- 2023-12-07 Norway: New vertical farm to supply retailer with 110 tons of leafy greens yearly
- 2023-12-07 Jiashan Sino-Dutch Horticulture Innovation Center opened during the horticultural trade mission to China
- 2023-12-06 Construction of new Multivac production factory starts
- 2023-12-06 AdeptAg partners with Hoogendoorn
- 2023-12-06 Syngenta joins the Phytobiomes Alliance
- 2023-12-06 "60 percent of our production is sold via the Munich wholesale market"
- 2023-12-06 WPK getting acquired by three owners
- 2023-12-05 New partnership to explore cultivation of proteins, novel food, and medicine
- 2023-12-05 Jong Fruit celebrates 15th anniversary
- 2023-12-05 Glasmij celebrates 100 years of activity
- 2023-12-05 Astanor Ventures welcomes Thomas Nagy as Operational Partner
- 2023-12-04 "We must decide if we want an 'outsourcing' model in Morocco or to maintain a productive self-sufficiency"
- 2023-12-04 GreenV invests in Mexican market with GreenV Mexico
- 2023-12-01 Kurt Dramm inducted into The Green Industry Hall of Fame