Research farm holds open house

CRAWFORDSVILLE — The Iowa State University Extension Southeast Research Farm opened its doors to visitors for tours and a ribbon cutting last week. The event was both a celebration of the research farm’s 35th anniversary, as well as its new learning center facility.

Field Agronomist Rebecca Vittetoe said the facility was a major upgrade.

“We’ve been hosting larger events at the farm, one of them being our high school ag exploration day that we do in September, or when we try to do field days at night, we didn’t really have a great facility,” Vittetoe said. “We were either having to set up a tent outside or, if it got dark, we had to cut it short because we didn’t have a place to go inside (with) a larger group.

“Also, some of the equipment that we’ve been using at the farm has gotten larger over the years. So the farm staff, if they were getting a piece of equipment set up to go out and do plot work, either they were having to do it outside … or go to Ames to use their facilities.”

The building was funded largely with grant money, after a series of unpreventable delays.

“We started discussions … in 2019, (and) officially kicked off fundraising for the event in 2020, a week before everything got shut down with COVID,” Vittetoe said. “Then we also have dealt with a lot of supply chain issues which not only causes delays but has caused issues with prices for steel and wood, which meant more fundraising.”

The site in Crawfordsville is far from the beaten path. Vittetoe said it was important to show off the efforts of everyone involved to the community.

“It was really local farmers that said, ‘Hey, we don’t have a research farm in this part of the state, but we need one,’” she said. “We’re helping people to realize that we have this resource here locally. And it’s here, in Southeast Iowa, it’s not just in Ames where we do that research.”

The new facility’s price tag exceeded $600,000 more than double the planned cost when fundraising started, although some of that is due to square footage added to the plans more recently.

The event drew around 200 people to the research site, a mix of farmers, ag retailers, businesses and ISU high-ups. Vittetoe said she appreciated the support.

“I just want to thank everybody who helped, or made a contribution to that new building,” she said. “It would not have happened without everybody’s support … we’re really excited for that new building and all of the things we’ll be able to host there.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com