K-State’s Economic Prosperity Plan

BUILDING A STATE OF POSSIBILITY

In 2020, the Kansas Board of Regents asked all state-supported colleges and universities to submit proposals to identify how they can do more to increase economic activity in the state.

KBOR selected K-State’s Economic Prosperity Plan, which identified four focus areas where we have existing, differentiating strengths, and the work coming from those areas have the potential to spark economic growth.

The potential within these four focus areas is tremendous. Three of the four areas, and major components of the fourth, were selected months earlier during the investigative phase of the strategic planning process for the College of Agriculture and K-State Research and Extension.

Focus area one

Kansas has been a leader in the production of food and feed crops, beef and dairy products for more than a century. K-State’s prosperity plan will capitalize on this to attract more ag manufacturing in Kansas. For example, rather than sending our unique wheat and sorghum varieties out of state as commodities, we keep more in state to make snack bars, consumption alcohol or other products here in Kansas. We can keep more of the beef processing and packaging in Kansas and use milk to produce cheese and yogurt within the state.

Focus area two

This focus area will develop and use new technologies to mine and analyze vast amounts of data to help farmers know precisely when and where to apply water, fertilizer, pesticides and other inputs. This innovation will take the complexity out of making these critical decisions by offering farmers a simple, precise and automated system that will provide the information they need to increase their food production while decreasing their natural resources footprint.

Focus area three

K-State is the only university in the world with access to a full continuum of biosecurity laboratories located on or adjacent to campus. K-State will bring corporate partners to Kansas to take advantage of these unique facilities to develop diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive countermeasures for a broad range of emerging zoonotic diseases. The laboratories will offer emergency rapid testing and manufacturing to protect the nation’s animal health and food supply during a crisis.

The College of Agriculture will also provide plant disease diagnostics, research, surveillance and training in disease vector biology.

Focus area four

K-State 105 maximizes K-State Research and Extension’s presence in all 105 counties to drive economic prosperity in the state. Through this initiative, businesses and communities will have greater access to K-State innovation, talent and training through local agents and coordinated resources. Extension’s research centers, experiment fields and highly skilled scientists and staff, combined with the climate and soil variability across the state, provide unique opportunities for agricultural research and corporate and private partnerships.

Sustainable agriculture – a priority that cuts across all focus areas

Agricultural sustainability is based on the principle that we must meet the needs of the present without compromising the health and well-being of future generations. Long-term prosperity requires long-term stewardship of natural resources and ensures social and economic well-being for all.

In addition, this cross-cutting theme will focus on resiliency and adaptation to develop solutions and implement action to respond to the impacts of climate change that are already happening and prepare for future impacts.