COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – On Thursday, the Norman E. Borlaug Building reopened on the campus of Texas A&M University with a new look inside and out.

The building underwent a three-year renovation process as part of an initiative by the Texas A&M University System, US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, USDA-ARS; Governor’s University Research Initiative; and Texas A&M AgriLife Research. It is more than 85,000 square feet and will house the Institute for the Advancement of Health through Agriculture and the Department of Nutrition of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. More USDA-ARS employees will also work there.

Originally built in 1993, the renovated building has been modernized and features “state-of-the-art laboratory facilities” and office space. The rotunda was also expanded to two floors. Those there will research nutrition, food insecurity, precision nutrition and responsive agriculture.

“Being able to bring all these faculty members and science together and do some of the cutting-edge research that we have, using much greater technology than was available in 1993, so those renovations allow us to we can use new technology and it allows for new new technology and for those collisions of faculty members to work together and advance science scientifically,” said Cliff Lamb, director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

It also acknowledges and acknowledges Norman E. Borlaug, the building’s namesake who is known as the Father of the Green Revolution. Borlaug is credited with perfecting a type of wheat that has helped save the lives of an estimated one billion people in food-insecure countries around the world.

“He won the World Food Prize, he was an exceptional scientist who changed and tackled poverty around the world, so we wanted to make sure we looked after the legacy he built and continues to build” , Lamb said.

The work will include everything from where food is produced to how it positively impacts nutrition-related diseases, Lamb said.

“Whether it’s obesity. diabetes or any other diseases that can be linked to food we have the opportunity to do research and solve problems for the future. this is the first of its kind in the country where we can marry these aspects together,” Lamb said.

Borlaug’s niece, Julie Borlaug is the president of the Borlaug Foundation. She is an Aggie and said it is amazing to see the building being upgraded and is excited to see the discoveries that will be made there.

“There are so many people in the world who are stunted and that’s because they didn’t get the basic nutrition they needed in the first 1,000 days of life, and it’s happening right here in the United States, so A&M will play a important role. role in making sure we have a healthy future generation,” Borlaug said.

She added that one of the things her grandfather loved most about Texas A&M was the students.

“I think when the public, the students get into it, it makes them realize that Texas A&M and AgriLife are innovators. We are forward-thinking in agriculture, and we have the board of regents, the chancellor and the president and vice president of Agriculture who believe we can make progress,” Borlaug said.

Chancellor John Sharp said Thursday is the second phase of the Borlaug Institute.

“The federal government has now commissioned Texas A&M to look at the food pyramid, ‘hey, let’s eat healthy foods, not just large amounts of food,’ so it combines the past with what Norman Borlaug did in the future, so hopefully the next winner of the noble prize. it’s going to come from here,” Sharp said. “The A in A&M stands for agriculture, we were the first agricultural research university in the country, we have been for a long time, and we will be for a long time to come.”

Both Lamb and Sharp said the renovations make the Norman E. Borlaug Building one of the most advanced research facilities on campus.

“With the labs and things that are here, I think the principal investigators will have everything they need to do a great job,” Sharp said. “The people in it are what’s important. They are some of the best minds in agricultural research that exist on planet Earth, and that is the hallmark of what Texas A&M is all about.”

In his lifetime, Borlaug won the Nobel Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Science, and the US Congressional Gold Medal, all of which can be seen inside the rotunda building. A statue of Borlaug is located in front of the building and is the same as the one located at National Statuary Hall in Washington, DC

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