Food + Farm Exploration Center requests state funding

By Patrick Lynn

The Food + Farm Exploration Center is close to reaching its fundraising goal and has asked the state to offer a little assistance.

Interim Executive Director Kathleen O’Leary this week testified before the Joint Finance Committee in Waukesha to explain the Center’s ambitions and to request an additional $10 million in funding. To date, Farming For the Future has raised about $25M of it’s $38M goal.

The goal of the Exploration Center is to help citizens understand how their food is grown and the importance of agriculture to the state. Touted as a “world-class facility,” the Center will provide hands-on learning opportunities and workforce development training for students as well as the public.

“This will be an investment in the future of agriculture, education and workforce development,” O’Leary told committee members. “The Exploration Center will provide collaboration with area growers, processors, food manufacturers and all levels of educational institutions from K-12, technical colleges and the UW System to plant the seeds for the next generation of the agricultural workforce.”

STEM education and the development of the next generation of the agricultural workforce are the primary focuses of the Food + Farm Exploration Center, O’Leary said.

There will be onsite and classroom curriculum consistent with the state’s STEM initiatives. Through its programs, the Exploration Center hopes to engage students by showing them why a career in agriculture can be rewarding as well as the vast opportunities available to them.

The Center will also create new jobs and increase tourism into the state of Wisconsin and Portage County.

The 50,000-square-foot Food + Farm Exploration Center is located on 24 acres in Plover and includes more than 16,000 square feet of hands-on learning space, 5,000 square feet of conference and indoor event space, 40,000 square feet of outdoor event space and four acres of agricultural teaching fields.

For more information go to www.FoodandFarm.us.