Pair of multi-million dollar projects approved for Auburn’s agriculture program

Two transformational projects for the Auburn University College of Agriculture were approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting on Friday, Feb. 7.

The projects include a new children’s garden at the university’s Transformation Garden + a newly established Bee Center which will focus on conservation and research.

Keep reading to learn more about each project.

Transformation Garden

During the meeting, the Board of Trustees approved phase one of a new children’s garden at the Transformation Garden.

The children’s garden will cover approximately 1.5 acres and include:

• Central gathering lawn
• Seating areas
• Extensive plantings
• Natural play structures within the Transformation Garden’s hands-on field laboratory environment.

The estimated total project cost of the project is $2.2 million, which will be financed by the College of Agriculture and gift funds.

“The Transformation Garden’s first major construction project is designed to provide transformative learning experiences for children and their families. Located at the southern entrance to the garden near the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center, guests will enter this space designed with kids in mind. Our faculty, staff and students will help to educate, engage and entertain youth with fun, safe and educational content and spaces that will create a lifelong love for plants and foster curiosity.”

~ Desmond Layne, head of the Department of Horticulture

Once complete, the 16-acre Transformation Garden will include

• 2 vertical farms — shipping containers outfitted as hydroponic farms
• Old Rotation, the oldest continuous cotton experiment in the world.
• Shaded classroom
• Greenhouse and aquaponic project
• Teaching orchard
• Landscape construction work yard
• Agronomic field crops
• Shade garden
• Vegetable teaching garden
• Pollinator garden
• Medicinal garden
• Invasive plants garden
• Rain garden

Bee Center

The board also approved the establishment of the Auburn University Bee Center, which will combine research, extension and education to advance innovative solutions for bee conservation.

Supporting the AU-Bees program, the center will advance the university’s role as a leader in bee research, cultivate future leaders through impactful research and extension, and increase collaborations among the colleges and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

“Creation of the Bee Center recognizes the important contributions Auburn University and Alabama Extension have made towards understanding and improving bee health and beekeeping in recent years. It positions us to move forward more effectively as a regional and national leader by streamlining faculty and resources dedicated to bees.”

~ Geoffrey Williams, associate professor and director of the AU-Bees program

The core members of the Bee Center will be faculty whose lab missions are dedicated to bees and other Auburn faculty making important contributions to bee research.

Williams reiterated that the Transformation Garden and the new Bee Center are projects that will strengthen and enhance the college’s research, instruction and outreach efforts, targeting its three missions as a land-grant institution.

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