Greenhouse redesign

WOOSTER -- The new greenhouses being erected on the campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center are a reminder of the past and a look into the future.

The greenhouses were needed after the former ones were destroyed during a tornado that ravaged the campus Sept. 16, 2010. Insurance money is paying for the construction, Associate Director Dave Benfield said. By the end of the year, they should be done.

The greenhouses also point to the future, Director Steve Slack said.

"We're getting closer" to restoring the campus after the storm, Slack said. "These greenhouses not only reflect the continued growth from the tornado event, but they really reflect the future of the science of the faculty."

The research has led to millions of dollars of economic activity, Slack said. The new greenhouses will give the faculty a greater opportunity to contribute to economic activity in the future.

Benfield said the new units will be better than the ones being replaced. Those greenhouses were a mix of glass and polycarbonates. The ones under construction will be all glass.

In the past, faculty like David Francis, a tomato breeder and geneticist, and Esther van der Knapp, who researches molecular, developmental and genetic basis of tomato fruit morphology, worked on plant breeding, plant growth characteristics and influence of genetics on fruit shape, Benfield said. They have worked on breeding disease-resistant plants.

The faculty had a lot of input into the design of the greenhouses, Benfield said.

Another tornado-related construction project that is expected to be done by the first quarter of 2015 is the agricultural engineering building.

"The faculty is excited about both projects," Slack said. "They are seeing the realizations of their dreams come true."

Reporter Bobby Warren can be reached at 330-287-1639 or [email protected]. He is @BobbyWarrenTDR on Twitter.