ALFA Services Building Doors Soon to Open
By: Anna Pitts, Ag Communications Major
A boon for farmers and gardeners across the state soon will open on the Auburn campus.
The Alfa Agricultural Services and Research building is predicted to be completed this August. This building is made possible by a $5 million gift from Alfa Insurance Companies and the Alabama Farmers Federation in commemoration of their 75th anniversary.
Located near the corner of Donahue Drive and South College Street this 24,000-square-foot, L-shaped, brick building will combine three separate diagnostic laboratories that are presently located in different buildings on Ag Hill. Those labs are the Soil Testing, Plant Diagnostic and Fescue Diagnostic laboratories.
This new facility will provide each laboratory significantly more space than they are currently using to operate. It is expected that Soil Testing will double and Plant Diagnostic will increase its space eight-fold when the move is completed. The extra space will allow more individual attention to special case samples that come in and allow more people to work in the lab simultaneously.
"We are thrilled to be moving (to the new building) and can't wait," says Jackie Mullen, manager of the Plant Diagnostic Lab. "We can all work at the same time instead of working in shifts."
The added space means more room for new equipment. Each lab will receive new equipment paid partially by the Alfa and Farmers Federation donations and the Alabama Agriculture Experiment Station (AAES).
New computer programs will allow clients to access their test results via the Internet. Hamp Bryant, manager of Soil Testing, explains that results will be available over the Web using a private password that will be available only to customers and their county agents.
This is especially important to customers who cannot afford to wait too long for their results. The new facility plus the new equipment will continue to help the laboratories report accurate results to the customers in a short amount of time.
"Right now in Funchess we have a problem with dust because the soil is dried and ground up, which can contaminate samples," adds Bryant. "The new facility is designed for high dust factors to be eliminated."
Each lab offers services to researchers, farmers, home gardeners, foresters, nurseries and students. Moving into the new facility and having new equipment will not result in an increase in charges for each test.
Customers also will benefit from the facility's location. Previously these labs were scattered across campus, which made them hard to find. In addition parking was difficult for off-campus, new and out-of-town customers. Soil Testing is in Funchess Hall, Plant Diagnostic is the Duncan Hall Annex and Fescue Diagnostic Lab is in the Rouse Life Sciences building all on Auburn's campus.
"When looking for sites, this one was considered to be the easiest access to people from out of town and avoid the main traffic of campus," says Don Seay, director of Land and Facilities for the AAES. The new location provides ample parking and it is more convenient to I-85 and Highway 280.
"Like Auburn University, this new facility has a three-part mission to fulfill. These labs provide invaluable information to homeowners, farmers and industry," says John Jensen, interim dean of the College and director of the AAES, at the groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 28, 2002. "They truly reach far beyond the borders of this campus or of academia and extend the land-grant mission to the people."