Dozens of Aggies and community members came together on New Mexico State University’s Las Cruces campus Friday, Nov. 3, as the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences opened the doors to two new cutting-edge facilities that will benefit the state’s agriculture industry and modernize education at NMSU.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the completion of the Food Science, Security and Safety Center and the Animal Nutrition and Feed Manufacturing Facility. The event drew several dignitaries, elected officials and industry partners. Speakers included New Mexico Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, state Rep. Jack Chatfield and Acting Deputy Secretary of the New Mexico Higher Education Department Gerald Hoehne.

“The buildings themselves are a great moment in the history of agriculture in New Mexico,” College of ACES Dean Rolando A. Flores Galarza said. “They are two buildings, but the areas they’ll work on are very extensive. It connects from the farm to the table and picks up all the byproducts to make an efficient system. We’ve never had something like this in New Mexico. These are the largest value-added agricultural research facilities in the U.S Southwest."

Construction on the buildings began in 2021 as part of a project funded by general obligation bonds approved by New Mexico voters in 2018 and 2020. A biomedical research building remains under construction as part of the same project.

The Food Science, Security and Safety Center will serve as an international hub for food safety and security along the United States-Mexico border. It houses six state-of-the-art laboratories for research in functional foods, nutraceuticals, food processing, dairy science, fermentation, minimizing water usage in food production and other areas. The facility will also support value-added agriculture, one of New Mexico’s nine targeted industries.

To read more about this please click on the following link: NMSU opens doors to new agricultural buildings.