Kansas State considers $150 million research center

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) – Kansas State University is seeking $5 million in state funding to lay the groundwork for a $150 million research center that would focus on food.

University President Kirk Schulz requested the funding in the next fiscal year for the College of Agriculture and K-State Research and Extension to plan what is being called the Food Systems Research and Education Facility.

The proposal was discussed briefly during a Kansas Board of Regents budget session Tuesday, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.

The project – which could involve the construction of several buildings – may be a few years down the road, Schulz said, but he wants to get legislators and other state officials familiar with the request.

The 200,000-square-foot center would house labs, modern greenhouses, classrooms and extension and distance education space, to be funded by a combination of federal, state and private funding, Schulz said.

“It will require all three to participate to make this a reality,” he said.

The project would complement research at the planned National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility adjacent to Kansas State, Schulz and regents members said. The $1 billion NBAF is expected to start operating in 2022. It will focus primarily on infectious animal-borne diseases and threats to the food supply.

Research at the proposed Food Systems Research and Education Facility also would focus on the food supply, such as developing higher-yielding crops, more intensive cropping systems and improved processing and distribution system.

Kansas State hopes to receive the $5 million planning grant in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2015. If it gets the money, the school could start construction on the facility in 2017-2018, with completion set two years later.

This story was originally published July 28, 2014 at 6:35 AM with the headline "Kansas State considers $150 million research center."