Gov. Zell Miller and others will officially open the Tifton,
Ga., doors
of the National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture
Laboratory
on Dec. 12.

The $6 million University of
Georgia
lab is the only one of its type in the nation. Its goal is to
enable scientists
to find better ways to grow food and fiber crops while
protecting the environment.

“This has been a vision we’ve all had for several years,”
said Craig
Kvien, NESPAL coordinator and crop physiologist at the UGA
College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences‘ Tifton
campus. “This facility
is a prototype that we hope will be adapted to other regions
across the
nation.”

NESPAL evolved from scientists’ conducting research across
many disciplines.
“This laboratory provides a way for scientists to get together
to work
on some ‘bigger-picture’ issues we face today,” Kvien said.

For example, entomologists can find ways to control the
insects devouring
tomato plants. But they can also work with biotechnologists to
make the
plants resist the insects. That way, growers don’t have to use
chemicals
that may harm the environment.

“So many problems facing agriculture today,” said CAES dean
and director
Gale Buchanan, “can’t be
adequately
solved by scientists working alone.”

The cooperative work goes beyond even the scientist teams,
Kvien said.

“One of our strengths is our link with other academic and
industry groups,”
he said. “That brings together the talents of academics and the
practicality
of industry to make the research not only faster, but more
easily adapted
to production.”

Kvien expects some of today’s NESPAL research to be in the
field in
less than five years. He’s understandably excited about NESPAL.

“It’s not this unit alone that can accomplish anything,” he
said. “It’s
this unit working with all the others and communicating results.
That’s
what will get us to our food production and environmental
protection goals.”

Current NESPAL projects include:

* Precision agriculture that allows farmers to better apply
fertilizers
or pesticides where needed.

* Riparian zone management to control nonpoint pollution.

* How pest-control methods affect marketing standards and
consumer demands
for produce.

* Developing computer-based systems to make more effective
pest-control
decisions.

* Study of how pesticides and fertilizers move through the
soil and
other landscape features.

* Using plant and animal processing byproducts as resources.

* Developing pest-resistant crops with artificial and natural
breeding
programs.

* Finding better ways to produce native plants for landscape
use.

The lab has been operating since 1992. But cramped office and
lab space
limited scientists’ work. The new building has 40,000 square
feet.

Funding from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture,
the Georgia Research Alliance
and others
helped pay for the new building. It houses 14 offices, 12 labs

and seminar
and conference rooms.

Architects designed the building with the environment in
mind. It’s
nestled into a soil berm and topped by a reflective white roof.
Solar collectors
heat water for the building, and motion- and light-sensitive
switches control
the lighting.