Greg Farmer, President of Colonial Farm Credit, and Bob Frazee, President of MidAtlantic Farm Credit, tour the Campus Farm at the University of Maryland.
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
The revitalization of the Campus Farm at the University of Maryland is several steps closer to a reality thanks to a generous pledge of support from a leader in the region’s agricultural industry.
Farm Credit has agreed to make a donation totaling $210,000 to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Campus Farm Revitalization Project. Two Farm Credit presidents -- both alumni from the College of AGNR -- made a trip to the College Park campus recently to announce their intentions for the gift.
“It was just a natural fit with our organization and our mission to serve agriculture and rural communities,” said Greg Farmer, President of Colonial Farm Credit and a 1976 animal sciences graduate. “This (Campus Farm project) also provides a great opportunity to educate the 98 percent of the population that doesn’t know about agriculture and has nothing to do with agriculture.”
“The Campus Farm is such a great symbolic kind of project,” said MidAtlantic Farm Credit President Bob Frazee, who graduated in 1977 with a degree in agricultural and Extension education. “To see this whole thing come to pass in a fresh, new part of campus says a lot not only about who we are but who we want to be. I think it sends a nice, tangible, visible message about the future of agriculture.”
The College of AGNR is embarking on a bold mission to turn the Campus Farm – a unique asset for a large, urban university – into a modernized venue showcasing agricultural best practices for students, industry leaders and visiting dignitaries. Proposed improvements include expanding and renovating current structures, creating an indoor teaching pavilion and covered arena, streamlining the layout to more efficiently move animals throughout the site, improving accessibility and increasing the farm’s visibility – all while preserving its bucolic charm.
For their donation, Farm Credit will receive the naming rights for the conference room and classroom to be located inside the newly-constructed teaching pavilion as well as the bleachers overlooking the Iager Covered Livestock Ring.
“The Campus Farm project demonstrates our commitment not only to students and faculty, but to the state’s agricultural industry as a whole,” said Cheng-i Wei, Dean of the College of AGNR. “This support from Farm Credit will go a long way toward strengthening the relationship between this university and industry leaders throughout the state.”
Phase one of construction at the Campus Farm is slated to start in early 2015. For more information on the Campus Farm Revitalization, please visit www.agnr.umd.edu/campusfarm.
