Parma Research Center 2

The University of Idaho Parma Research Center is almost 100 years old and is due to be modernized. Mark McGuire director of agricultural experiment stations for the U of I. explains that the curriculum is very important to the entire state, but… “The other part is this is a very different pocket of agriculture than the rest of the state. There are certainly connections for potatoes small grains throughout the state here. But this corner of the Treasure Valley is amazing in the diversity of crops that are grown such as mint and onions and then this burgeoning hop industry. So the college really wants to make sure that we are servicing this area better and so that's why we are pushing forward with the design and fundraising for this new facility. What we hope to do is to revitalize all of our research infrastructure around the state. We have aging facilities. Average age of our buildings around the state is 50 years old and that that's typical of what's here in Parma. Mostly because we just have to have space. We don't have the space currently. Couple of our leading researchers here are working in closets if you will. And so we we need the space and we hope to add a couple of more faculty.” Certainly a reasonable goal when you consider the enormous economic impact that agriculture has on Idaho