The Western Star Global Grain and Food Center held its ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 18, following President Richard Linton’s State of the University Address. The $130 million and 178,000-square-foot center houses different science studies such as milling, baking, food, animal feed and pet food science. It features state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms and interdisciplinary industry spaces. 

The facility’s name honors the Western Star Mill, which the Vanier family, renowned for their philanthropic contributions to K-State, purchased in 1925. 

During opening remarks, Dan Moser, dean of the College of Agriculture, said Sen. Jerry Moran and Rep. Tracey Mann both advocated for the center’s development, securing federal support with $5.5 million of congressionally directed spending. 

Linton said this project has been the most transformative of his career. 

“I have 42 years in higher education, and I’ve never been a part of anything with the potential to change as many lives as what we are unveiling today,” Linton said. “Today marks the completion of the new buildings in the Agricultural Innovation Initiative.”

The College of Agriculture’s Agricultural Innovation Initiative is a $210 million investment in expanding agricultural research at K-State. The initiative included the construction of three new facilities, including the L. Eldon Gideon Agronomy Research and Innovation Complex and the Bilbrey Family Event Center. Now connecting newly renovated Call and Weber Halls, the Western Star Center was the third and last development in the initiative project. 

“The research that emerges here, the discoveries that begin here, the students who will learn here, the partnerships that will grow here, the farmers and agribusinessmen that will benefit from the work that’s done here … those are the things that will define the legacy of this initiative,” Linton said. 

Emphasizing K-State’s status as a next-generation land-grant university, Linton said the facility will help attract students and give them an experience “like no other place in the country or the world.” He said a crucial role it plays in student success is bringing in more industry collaboration for students to work on and solve real-world problems alongside professionals. 

With multiple disciplines now working closely together, students will learn to collaborate across them in preparation for their future careers. 

“The workforce needs an integration of these different disciplines, and I feel like that’s really what this building does in bringing it together,” Mann said. 

The event featured multiple displays of different types of research now housed in the center. Abigail Reid, junior in bakery science, had a display showing the difference in cocoa powders with different pH levels. She said the new facility provides more hands-on learning experiences and opportunities to interact with companies. 

Madison Purifoy, PhD student in grain science, said the Western Star Center will help highlight the work students and researchers do. 

“It’s opening up a new world,” Purifoy said. “We’re getting new facilities, new places where people can come together and really see what we do and the research that is impacting not just us, but the world as well.”

Moran said the facility is an honorable development for all agriculturists. 

“Farmers and ranchers are noble people with a noble profession, feeding a hungry world,” Moran said. “This university is involved in a noble endeavor. Make sure the farmers and ranchers of Kansas, the country and the world have the tools they need.”