AMES, IOWA, U.S. — Iowa State University (ISU) recently received a $2.6 million donation from California Pellet Mill (CPM) to provide equipment, automation and services for the university’s new educational and research facility for feed milling and grain science.

The gift is the latest contribution to the $21.2 million feed mill and grain science complex, which will be funded entirely through private giving.

“We greatly appreciate CPM’s generous investment in the future of our educational, research and extension programs to serve the feed and grain sector, and its links to so many other aspects of our agricultural economy,” said Daniel J. Robison, holder of the Dean’s Endowed Chair in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State. “CPM’s gift represents a critically important part of the infrastructure that will run this state-of-the-art facility to the benefit of our students, faculty and stakeholders, and keep us on the cutting edge of where we need to be.”

Jim Hughes, general manager of CPM, added, “We are excited to be supporting Iowa State’s new feed and grain technology minor and its new facility. Students from around the world will have state-of-the-art equipment and automation that will benefit them for many years to come.”

The gift from CPM brings the total amount raised for the facility to $16.5 million. In 2017, Kent Corp., the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and Sukup Manufacturing Co. committed $14 million to the construction of the complex.

Planning for the complex includes a feed mill tower, feed milling and mixing structures, grain storage bins and a classroom and laboratory building. The site will be on approximately 10 acres of university-owned land southwest of the intersection of Highway 30 and State Avenue in Ames. 

Classes and short courses will be taught at the planned complex, research conducted, and feeds prepared for animals housed at several nearby Iowa State teaching and research farms. Students and feed mill employees will use the complex to learn how to keep the food system secure and sustainable.

Faculty in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering have developed a new minor in feed and grain technology that will be available for Iowa State students during the fall semester of 2019. The minor will help prepare students to meet a growing demand for highly skilled professionals in the feed and grain industries. When completed, the new complex will provide hands-on learning experiences for students across majors in animal science, agricultural biosystems engineering and agricultural business.

The facility also will be a hub for continuing education and extension programs for employees in feed milling and grain industries. These programs will help workers meet an increasing number of regulatory compliance issues, address biosecurity concerns and gain experience in advanced processing methods.

The new facility will centralize feed production close to university animal teaching and research farms. It is expected to reinforce the quality of research by Iowa State faculty, serving as a source for custom-made animal feeds for academic studies.

Headquartered in Waterloo, Iowa, CPM is a supplier of process equipment and systems serving commodity and value-adding producers around the world. CPM has more than 1,200 employees and markets its machinery and aftermarket solutions through 26 global locations in the Americas, Europe and Asia.