Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Held For New Extension/EARC Facility

At the close of the Eastern Agricultural Research Center’s (EARC) field day, held on Tuesday, July 26, officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new $1.6 million EARC and Richland County Extension facility, located on the EARC grounds on the east side of Hwy. 200 just north of Sidney.

The facility has a 150-seat meeting room and conference center, research laboratories, two greenhouses, and offices for both research and extension staff.

“The capital campaign project raised $753,000 from area individuals and businesses,” said Dr. Jerry Bergman, EARC director, during the ceremony. “This is a great facility that will serve Sidney and area for a long time. It is a great building for the current staff and it will help recruit new staff in the future.”

Dave Kasten, former Montana legislator who played a huge role in securing this facility for the region, remarked, “It is good for us legislators to see the support this facility received. It is a good facility; it was a struggle to get it but we did get the funding.”

Montana Legislators Walt McNutt and Don Steinbeisser involved themselves with this project years ago and they were also a tremendous help in securing funding that made this facility a reality. They recognized that our number one industry in Montana—agriculture—requires intensive research in order to assist growers to harvest quality crops, so they set out to ensure that the staff had an adequate facility in which to conduct experiments that benefit agriculture. “We need to fund research adequately, as this is the lifeblood of agriculture,” McNutt commented during the ceremony.

Former Richland County Commissioner Mark Rehbein spoke up in favor for the facility and he pushed for the inclusion of Richland County Extension at the facility. Rehbein praised the efforts of Bergman in obtaining this new building. “This facility would not exist without the tenacious support of Jerry Bergman,” Rehbein noted. “We ran into one roadblock after another, but with the help of local legislators and Jerry Bergman, we made it work.”

Montana State University’s Dean of Agriculture, Jeff Jacobsen, was unable to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony, but he sent a letter which praised the efforts of many people who worked to turn a vision into reality. “People have worked hard over the years to get this,” the letter stated. “Don Steinbeisser and Walt McNutt were vigorous advocates, and I also want to acknowledge the efforts of Dave Kasten. We want to celebrate a new beginning at the EARC.”

The letter continued, “This is a one-of-a-kind facility with ag research and extension connected. This investment in agriculture will yield big returns.”

The facility will ensure the continuance of ag research and technology transfer by providing laboratory and greenhouse research, integration of the research staff and the Extension staff, a fiber optic link to the MSU main station in Bozeman, the demonstrations and transfer of research-based information to area producers, on-site learning opportunities, and a regional center where area farmers, agri-businesses and other agricultural interests can meet to discuss topics of concern.