Poultry Science News Flash

Perdue Farms Makes $100,000 Gift to NCSU Feed Mill

by Suzanne Standard

Building on a partnership that started more than 50 years ago, Perdue Incorporated, through the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, recently presented a $100,000 check to N. C. State University to support the new Feed Mill Educational Unit, a hands-on learning laboratory of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Departments of Poultry Science and Animal Science.

The feed mill, expected to open in early 2007, will be the centerpiece of the College's Feed Milling Education Initiative, which is designed to prepare students for leadership roles in the feed milling industry and to provide the underlying educational and research programs required to support a sustainable industry. Perdue Farms has been a long-time supporter of the university and the College, making possible numerous scholarships, as well as programs in research, teaching, youth development and extension.

"We are very grateful for Perdue's continuing commitment to our Department of Poultry Science," said department head Dr. Sam Pardue. "For more than 50 years the Wolfpack and Perdue have learned to depend on one another, and I trust that our relationship will continue to serve as a model for future collaborations."

Located at the University Field Lab on Lake Wheeler Road in Raleigh, the feed mill will provide opportunities for students to learn the principles and methods of feed manufacture and will bolster the College's new feed milling curriculum.

"In making this pace-setting gift to the feed mill, Perdue Farms takes a leading role among those who will ensure the success of the programs the new mill will make possible," said Dr. Winston Hagler, assistant director of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service, the College's research arm. "The feed mill will empower our scientists and students to do research in animal feed manufacturing techniques to help ensure profitable animal production in our state and region."

Speaking on behalf of Perdue Farms at the check-presentation ceremony, Dr. Hank Engster, vice president of technical services, said, "We are pleased that the university has taken the leadership to pursue both building facilities and creating a course of instruction in this area of endeavor, as it is in the heart of Perdue's poultry production areas on the East Coast."

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