New Caldwell R&E Center fosters even more collaboration

by Marlene Fritz

This summer, a century after it was founded as a UI agronomy laboratory, the Caldwell Research and Extension Center will have a new home 5 miles northeast of its current site.  Faculty and staff in animal science, agricultural economics, 4-H, computer support, and District II UI Extension administration will join colleagues at the Food Technology Center and Caldwell Business Incubator to form a UI Caldwell complex just off Interstate 84’s Exit 29.

To accommodate the relocating personnel, 3,650 square feet were added to the steel-framed complex’s 29,000 square feet. In addition to its new occupants, the two parallel buildings house a UI commercial kitchen, pilot food-processing and testing plant, and a dozen startup businesses, as well as the Caldwell Economic Development Council and SCORE small-business counselors.

Better positioned to solve local problems

 “We’re looking to the future,” says CALS Dean John Hammel. “This will put a critical mass of people together to solve problems in the Treasure Valley.”

That future includes a 1,200-square-foot teaching center that will bring worldwide connectivity—via Moscow—to Treasure Valley faculty, students, and clientele. Multiple high-definition displays will allow users to see crisp images of websites, PowerPoint presentations, and other 21st century teaching and conferencing tools. Pat Momont, District II UI Extension director, says requests to book the facility for fall classes and conferences have been coming in since early spring. “It will provide a wonderful opportunity for people in the community,” he says.

Momont also anticipates that UI Extension faculty will be working closely with the business incubator’s startup firms, the kitchen’s and pilot plant’s clients, and economic developers, thereby “shortening the distance that information travels between sectors.”

Jim Toomey, UI’s incubator director, agrees. “We’ll be well-positioned to help growers respond to the Treasure Valley’s changing agricultural landscape and to help those who are interested make the transition to small-acreage, value-added businesses.”

Contact Momont at pmomont@uidaho.edu.

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