WVSU says new greenhouses to further advance agricultural research

 

INSTITUTE, W.Va. — West Virginia State University President Ericke Cage says the recently-welcomed new greenhouses on campus will only continue to boost their ongoing agricultural research and development.

Ericke Cage

Located behind the Dr. Hazo W. Carter Jr. Integrated Extension Building, Cage said the 6,912 square foot series of greenhouses will help to enhance the agricultural research that’s already being conducted at the facility.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to expand our capability, provides more space for our researchers to do the cutting-edge research that they do every day to help support agricultural sustainability,” said Cage.

Funded by the USDA’s NIFA, or National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant, Cage went on to say that it’s an extension of the work the university has already been doing with the USDA around agriculture sustainability.

Vice President, Dean and Director for Agricultural Research and Extension at WVSU Ami Smith also said it will help to enhance their already fairly large agricultural research portfolio.

She said in the first phase of the greenhouses, two research teams will utilize the four bays set up within the greenhouses.

Smith said one team will focus on plant genomics and watermelon production, looking at disease-resistant watermelon growth to potentially bring onto the market. They will also conduct research on peppers, squash and cucurbits.

Smith said the other research team is looking at growing switchgrass for bio-oils for biofuels that can be used for jet fuel. She said they are also looking at plants as upticks for heavy metals in contaminated environments, environmental remediation and climate change.

Reiterating Cage’s remarks, Smith said this just adds to the long track-record of agricultural research being done at WVSU.

“We have been developing our agricultural research at WVSU over the last 24 years since the year 2000 when our land-grant status was reinstated, and this really is just an enhancing factor to take our state-of-the-art agricultural research to the next level,” she said.

Along with supporting the sustainable energy initiative, Smith said the research conducted in the greenhouses will also help support food safety and security.

Smith said right now there is a global food security issue with more than 700 million people around the world considered food insecure.

She said West Virginia is one of the highest populations in the country of people struggling with food insufficiency at 15%.

“So, it’s important to conduct research that is addressing safety and security in our food supply, as humans we all have to eat, and so this research is working to enhance agricultural production processes so we can ensure more food safe and food secure populations,” she said.

Cage said while the greenhouses are not a part of the $50 million agricultural laboratory that’s projected to come to the campus in the next coming years, he said it will serve as a longstanding asset of agriculture investments and development at WVSU alongside the future facility.

He said both the future lab and the new greenhouses will help continue a legacy in agriculture research at the university, which has already brought in so much.

“What we have been able to determine is that over the last 24 years, our land-grant programs in total have brought roughly $290 million dollars in funding to this university, funding that we put to work in the form of supporting our researchers, and we’re putting that research to practice around the state helping to improve the lives for our citizens,” Cage said.