MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State University is raising funds to complete its Agriculture Innovation Initiative.
The $210 million infrastructure project includes three new buildings and renovations to two iconic university halls.
“Many of those campuses have buildings that were built in the 1950s and 60s, so they are aging out," K-State's College of Agriculture Eldon Gideon Dean Ernie Minton said.
By mid-summer 2026, the university will have three new buildings: The Agronomy Research and Innovation Center, Bilbrey Family Event Center and Global Center for Grain and Food Innovation.
It will also make major renovations to Weber and Call Halls.
Not only will this investment improve the overall experience of 1,800 undergraduates, 2,000 graduate students and 230 faculty members, but it will also have economic impacts to both the university and the state of Kansas — more jobs and more revenue.
“There’s always a double digits to one impact; for every dollar that’s spent in our case, $17 in economic impact across the state," Minton said. "Agriculture is so extremely important to the state of Kansas, but there are questions of sustainability and other kinds of things that we can help address that will really benefit that industry."
New learning spaces will have an interdisciplinary focus, which will lend itself to expanded research, more collaboration across majors and corporate partnerships.
According to the university website, interdisciplinary learning is described this way:
“In an interdisciplinary program or course, students might be exposed to concepts, theories and methodologies from various disciplines, such as humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and the arts. The goal is to foster a broader understanding of a subject by considering it from different angles and incorporating insights from different areas of expertise.
For example, an interdisciplinary program might combine elements of biology, ethics, law and policy to examine complex issues surrounding biotechnology and genetic engineering. Or an interdisciplinary course could explores the history, sociology and literature of a particular time period to gain a more comprehensive understanding of culture and society.”
“Up to 30% of that space is gonna be dedicated to multidisciplinary work," Minton said. "So yes, this is occurring in the College of Agriculture, but in the end, we’re gonna have data scientists, engineers, folks from across campus come and be in this building and work alongside faculty, graduate students and post docs in the College of Agriculture."
Up to 10% of that 30% will also be dedicated to public, private partnerships.
For example, companies may come into the labs to work on projects with faculty graduate students and post docs for real-world applications.
“It’s gonna be really very, very, important to our mission going forward — training students, innovative research and then expanding that out to impacting Kansas and regional industries,” Minton said.
With only a year left in his PhD program, Tucker Graff will not necessarily get to walk the shiny new halls, but he says agricultural is a small, close-knit industry.
So an investment in one, is an investment in all.
“I will be working with people who have learned in these buildings, I will be working with people who do research in these buildings and they will continue to support the industry that I’m involved in in years to come which will have an indirect benefit for me," Graff said.
Like generations before him, Graff is Kansas born and bred.
Having grown up on a farm out west, coming to Kansas State University to study grain science just made sense.
He believes your environment defines your experience.
That is why he is happy to see the university, the state, as well as other philanthropic groups invest in his soon-to-be Alma Mater.
"It is something that is important to not only enrich the student experience, but also to drive up some of those enrollment numbers and attract students that we may be missing out on now, because we don’t have the families to attract them," Graff said. "The agriculture research here, the agriculture production in the state, it is something that does have a lot of affect downstream globally."
KSHB 41 reporter JuYeon Kim covers agricultural issues and the fentanyl crisis. If you have a story idea to share, send her an email to juyeon.kim@kshb.com.
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