Dear Legislative Members and Staff,

Michigan State University has been a leader in the plant sciences since MSU’s founding in 1855 and has maintained a stronghold in agriculture research. The MSU Plant Science Greenhouse Complex and its controlled environment complexes have supplied space for AgBioResearch and Project GREEEN related research, met our needs regarding teaching, and generated knowledge to be shared with stakeholders, growers, and industry through MSU Extension. Greenhouses and growth chambers are reliable, modern, and energy-efficient facilities that are necessary to foster research and assist in solutions for global food security. However, the greenhouse complex does not currently provide the space or technology to remain competitive. The MSU greenhouse and controlled environment complexes are too outdated to provide unique simulated environments necessary to meet the demands of modern research. For example, these facilities are no longer adequate to perform the types of research that simulate the stresses plants currently face and will likely face in the future.

Two-thirds of the greenhouses were built from 1955 to 1978 and lack modern, energy-efficient design. Moreover, the MSU greenhouses lack the climate-control systems that provide scientists with the precise conditions needed to perform targeted research trials. Updated greenhouses will help MSU scientists provide research to our industries and communities to prosper and thrive long into the future.

Learn more about plant science greenhouse research here. Stories you will find there include:

1.       Greenhouses are an invaluable resource for faculty and students, but to maintain MSU’s leadership in plant science, upgrades are critical.

2.       MSU microbial ecologist Ashley Shade is seeking to learn more about how microbes positively affect plant health and adapt to environmental pressures.

3.       Rebecca Grumet has dedicated her career to assisting specialty crop growers as an expert in reproductive development and disease resistance in cucurbit crops such as cucumbers, melons, squash, and watermelons.