CSU to open ag research center at Spur campus

DENVER — Colorado State University on Wednesday will celebrate the opening of its 10th Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station — the Metropolitan Agricultural Research Center, or MARC. Located at CSU Spur in Denver, the new center will focus on urban agriculture, organic growing methods and harnessing the latest agricultural technology.

Event attendees will have an opportunity to taste-test strawberries, participate in a pickling workshop, and tour greenhouses, agrivoltaics installations and other controlled-environment agriculture research facilities. Refreshments will be served. 

“The Metropolitan Agricultural Research Center will showcase the College of Agricultural Sciences’ dedication to innovative solutions in urban agriculture,” College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Carolyn Lawrence-Dill said in a prepared statement. “Advancing research in controlled and urban environments allows us to tackle critical issues of food security and sustainable resource use. By searching for solutions to these pressing challenges that can directly benefit Coloradans, we are also furthering the university’s fundamental commitment to its land-grant mission.” 

The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, or CAES, was established via the Hatch Act of 1887. The Act created a system of research centers in connection with the country’s land-grant universities. As part of that network, CAES staff and CSU faculty conduct numerous experiments in unique regional environments that are designed to address both local and national agricultural challenges.

This is the first new agricultural research center CSU has launched since 1992, when the Agricultural Research, Development and Education Center, or ARDEC, opened in Fort Collins. In addition to research, the statewide CAES network aims to enhance agricultural profitability and sustainability by supporting local commodities, fostering partnerships with stakeholders and facilitating community discussions on key issues. The new research center at Spur will continue in this mold, integrating research, outreach and education, with a focus on technological innovation and sustainable urban ag.

Wednesday’s event will begin at 1 p.m. in the Terra Building at the CSU Spur campus, 4777 National Western Drive in Denver. Attendees will include Lawrence-Dill as well as Chancellor Tony Frank, President Amy Parsons, Vice President for Engagement and Extension James Pritchett and Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station Eugene Kelly.

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