Where innovation meets opportunity: Oklahoma Legislature funds FAPC production equipment upgrades
Friday, December 13, 2024
Media Contact: Sophia Fahleson | Digital Communications Specialist | 405-744-7063 | sophia.fahleson@okstate.edu
In 1997, the Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center at Oklahoma State University opened its doors as a first-of-its-kind economic development model.
The 96,000-square-foot facility provides a home to a variety of manufacturing processes, such as food processing, animal harvesting, grain milling, and sensory profiling as well as food demonstration, application, and education laboratories
During the FAPC’s 27-year history, the mission of cultivating value-added products in Oklahoma has always stayed the same, said Roy Escoubas, FAPC director.
The FAPC’s budget has been tight in the last decade, which has negatively affected equipment, Escoubas added. Despite challenges in 2020, the FAPC contributed more than $50 million in economic growth and product innovation to the state while operating with dated equipment.
“Some of the equipment on the second floor is old,” Escoubas said. “Much of it was relocated from the old meat laboratory, and industry gave us parts and pieces. All kinds of things were placed here, most of which was used, and they’ve been kept in working condition all these years.”
The FAPC’s industry advisory committee recognized the need for new equipment, Escoubas said. The committee, selected by the Oklahoma governor, president pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate, speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives and vice president of OSU Agriculture, was created to ensure the FAPC has the means to fulfill its mission and goals, Escoubas added.
The committee members expressed to state legislators the need for new equipment and how without financial support the FAPC is going to be “less effective,” Escoubas said.
“The committee took care of the entire legislative process,” Escoubas added. “I didn’t touch anything. They invited me to go to the Oklahoma Capitol with them, so we spent the day with legislators talking about the needs of the center and what it’s accomplished in the last 25 years.”
On July 1, 2024, the Oklahoma Legislature allocated $6 million for FAPC equipment upgrades and improvements and $1 million toward its personnel.
“It’s the industry people who made this happen,” said Rodney Holcomb, FAPC assistant director and McLaughlin Family Endowed Chair. “The ones who serve on our industry advisory committee, the ones who send their employees here for food safety trainings, and those who come here for research and development work are the ones who see the value in this place and see what could be achieved with refurbished facilities.”
Leading the charge for the allocation was the industry advisory committee chairman, Mark Vaughan.
To address the emergence of new markets and opportunities, the FAPC needs new technologies and equipment, said Vaughan, managing partner at Fresh Avenue Partners. From a maintenance and upkeep standpoint, operating and continuing production with 30- to 40-year-old equipment does not meet the needs of the future, he added.
“We’re going to have to improve how we source food in this country,” Vaughan said. “Oklahoma doesn’t have a tremendous amount of infrastructure for some of this production. That’s a key deliverable out of the FAPC — working with other government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and individual farmers and producers about how they can grow and market fresh products produced here in Oklahoma. That’s why I’m passionate about the FAPC.”
Almost all upgrades are going to be made on the FAPC’s second floor, which includes most of the food processing operations, Escoubas said.
“In the 2020s, you want something that’s modern,” Holcomb said. “What you’re going to see upstairs is what you’re going to see in industry.”
Modernizing technology will do two things — improve production and enhance the teaching and student experience in the FAPC, Vaughan said.
“We want our faculty and students to have up-to-date technology,” Vaughan said. “It’s incumbent upon us to give them the best shot — the most modern technology — so they can optimize production.
“We want to give our entrepreneurs and students entering the workforce valid and relevant technology to work with, so they’ll be more impactful whether they’re selling or marketing a product or working for a company that does so,” Vaughan added. “That’s the reason the FAPC is important, and that’s why this investment needed to be made at this crucial time.”
As equipment is renewed, skills and capabilities improve, which has a direct effect on progression and innovation of the industry, said Bart Conley, senior administrative services manager for the FAPC.
The second floor of the FAPC is home to processes for meats, milling, baking, fruits, vegetables and more, Holcomb said. However, his favorite part is the smokehouse, he added.
“I love going up there when the smokehouse is going,” Holcomb said, “and these updates are going to give us a bigger and better smokehouse.
“When we’re smoking meats, smoke comes out of the top of the building, and you can just smell it,” Holcomb added. “That’s how I know it’s going to be a good day.”
Story by Lindi Brooking | Cowboy Journal