Discovering, Innovating and Educating Agriculture's Future

Photo by Dan Donnert

In today’s world it seems everything changes rapidly, whether that’s society and culture, or technology and research. Much of this has us hyper-focused on the here-and-now, and as one of the leading colleges of agriculture in the nation, it is our responsibility to continue to help farmers and ranchers tackle today’s problems, educate the future workforce of Kansas – while simultaniously leading the industry forward.

This year’s Ag Report focuses on the future of agriculture across the state of Kansas and on campus. You will find stories addressing our Manhattan-based Agriculture Innovation Initiative infrastructure and how these facilities will begin to enhance our educational and research experiences. We look forward to what’s on our plates and in our pets’ bowls in a piece about food science.

Kansas State University continues to positively move the needle on the ever-concerning topics of water and drought – while in another story we address digital agriculture – which will be extremely helpful in helping manage our usage of this precious resource. The issue also includes an Agricultural Economics roundtable discussion about what trends farmers and ranchers may have to address in the future as demographic and consumer trends change over the next two decades.

The takeaways from this year’s Ag Report are exciting for the future of Kansas State University and the College of Agriculture. As is always the case in this complex, ever changing industry – our faculty and staff continue to discover, educate, innovate and counsel so that the state of Kansas continues to expand its influence as a global leader in all areas of agriculture, in both the short and long term, to feed a hungry world.

 

J. Ernest Minton

Eldon Gideon Dean, College of Agriculture

Director of K-State Research and Extension