Earlier this year, I had the chance to take a tour through the new meat science facilities of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It’s an amazing, state-of-the-art complex that will do a wonderful job of educating its students, conducting valuable research projects and helping processors solve dilemmas. In the time I’ve been in the industry, I’ve also visited Texas Tech, Iowa State and Auburn Universities, and I left impressed with all of their capabilities as well.
None of those facilities were easy to come by. Frankly, the academic side of public universities doesn’t generate nearly the money that a good football or basketball team does. Higher education isn’t supposed to be about turning a profit, but that’s the reality of the time. Colleges won’t think twice about building a new training facility or renovating a football stadium, because there’s easy money in a successful sports program. But pour money into a meat or poultry science lab? It’s not an impossibility, but it’s also not as easy as it should be.