HARRISBURG, Pa. — Harrisburg University is creating a new Center for Advanced Agriculture and Sustainability.
The center, sponsored by a $1 million donation from the Giant Company, will focus on new technologies emerging in the food and agriculture sector.
The goal of the center is to teach both current students and local farmers about new technologies that will help both the business and sustainability within it.
“Specifically technologies that can help farmers with the economics of farming, help with their livelihoods, but to do that while simultaneously reducing the environmental impact of agriculture," says Ian Kanski, Director of the Center for Advanced Agriculture and Sustainability at HU.
The new 23,000-square foot facility will open to educators, learners, and farmers alike to meet with industry partners in laboratory spaces.
Kanski says it will focus on technologies they have identified where there is a greater need for both development and training, such as robotics, advanced imaging, biosystems engineering, and more.
The university hopes to connect with local farmers with this center, given the area’s rich history in the field.
“This entire region, food and agriculture are such an incredible legacy, a great history of farming here," Kanski tells FOX43. "Without question, the goal is to find real projects, apply to have research in the field, literally working with farms, and then use those real world projects as we support farms, as we serve as a resource for the region, with information and access, to use those opportunities to create new pathways for learners and educators to apply their disciplines.”
The announcement of this center comes at a time when the public is more interested than ever in both the health impacts of our food and the supply chains that carry it.
Groundbreaking will take place later this year.