Governor Zell
Miller, University
of Georgia President
Michael
Adams, and other state officials dedicated the new $6
million National
Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory
(NESPAL) on
the Tifton Campus of the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental
Sciences on Friday (Dec. 12).ÿ

“Agriculture is a $38 billion business in Georgia,” said
Governor Miller.
“With the type of research done here and at facilities like
this, farmers
in Georgia can remain competitive.”ÿ

This laboratory, the only one of its kind in the nation,
brings together
scientists from varying disciplines to find solutions to
production agriculture
issues.ÿ

These scientists work to find ways to improve agricultural
production
in ways that are safe for the environment.ÿ

During the dedication ceremony, NESPAL Chairman Craig
Kvien said the new laboratory is an experiment in
experiments.ÿ

ÿ

NEW LABORATORY
DEDICATED
Georgia officials and University of Georgia leaders cut the
ribbon at the
National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory
in Tifton,
Ga. on Friday. “If you ate breakfast or put on cotton clothes
today,” said
Governor Zell Miller, “you need to thank a farmer and the
researcher that
helped him raise a better crop.”ÿ Pictured are, left to
right, Michael
Adams, UGA President; Gale Buchanan, Dean and Director of the
College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Zell Miller, Governor
of Georgia;
Tony Smith, farmer; Craig Kvien, NESPAL chairman; Phil Utley,
Assistant
Dean at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station; and James
Blanchard, Chairman
of the Board, Georgia Research Alliance. (Photo courtesy the
UGA College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)



“We’re working together here at NESPAL and with scientists from
around
the globe to find ways to help farmers produce food and fiber
for the world,”
he said.

Cooperative funding from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, the Georgia
Research
Alliance and private and public grants helped pay for the
new building.

“So many of the problems facing agriculture and farmers today
can’t
be adequately solved by individual scientists working alone,”
said Gale
Buchanan, dean and director the UGA College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.ÿ “We
couldn’t complete
this project alone either. Our partners throughout the state
helped make
this laboratory a reality.”

The 40,000-square-foot NESPAL facility houses 14 offices, 12
laboratories,
conference rooms and seminar space. 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-sensitive and light-sensitive switches control the
lighting.