Reedley College plants seeds for innovation center
REEDLEY – A federal budget allocation has put Reedley College $2 million closer to being able to build a center where business, technology and agriculture can intersect through innovation.
District 21 Rep. Jim Costa visited Reedley on Feb. 19 to celebrate the budget allocation that will support the construction of the AgTEC Innovation Center at Reedley College. Alongside a handful of college faculty and local farmers, Costa spoke about how this center will help the Central Valley continue to feed the world for generations to come.
“We’ve got to keep pace with the changing landscapes, … and this really is an attempt to ensure that (the) community college here at Reedley continues to provide the lead … that is so critical to the success of California’s 21st century economy and the role that agriculture plays in this 21st century economy,” Costa said.
Costa said the AgTEC Innovation Center is just one example of the public-private partnerships that exist in the state, particularly when it comes to the intersection of the state’s community college system and its top-of-the-nation agriculture.
At the planned AgTEC Innovation Center, agricultural technology companies will be able to try out and demonstrate their new techniques, devices and equipment for partners in the agriculture industry. The center will sit on Reedley College farmland and have between 10 and 20 acres of farmland dedicated to it on Reedley College’s working farm.
The AgTEC Innovation Center will also be connected to the AgTEC Workforce Initiative, a training program offered at seven community colleges in California that helps farmworkers enhance their skills.
Reedley College President Jerry Buckley said the center will feature an advanced manufacturing-style machine shop with all the tools necessary to work on equipment or prototypes brought to the center. This way, companies can repair or modify equipment that they bring to show off to farmers.
Buckley said the center will be a nexus for the continued development of new technologies that can be used for sustainable farming in the Central Valley.
“It’s important that we continue to invest in not only education but in research and really support our growers, support those that make this industry what it is today so that we can remain the leader in the world tomorrow,” Buckley said.
Speaking from the McClarty Center for Fine and Performing Arts, Buckley said the idea for the innovation center was a dream brought to him by local farmer Harold McClarty, who also contributed to the performing arts center named for him.
“Harold came to me and explained how we needed to have a place where technology could be refined and shared with our ag partners — the growers, the shippers, the packers — where they had input on what the newest technologies could be and how that could work to make their enterprises more efficient and productive,” Buckley said.
Reedley College has been working on the design of the center and securing the necessary permits for construction so the project is shovel-ready, Buckley said, but there is no start date for the construction project yet.
The $2 million allocation was one of many community project funding requests Costa’s office included in various appropriations bills this year. State Center Community College District Trustee Magdalena Gomez, who represents Reedley College on the district board, said the total cost of the AgTEC Innovation Center is expected to be around $10 million.