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Heritage opens new Ag campus in Marysville Ohio

 

Heritage Cooperative in Ohio has opened a new Ag campus. The $35 million dollar campus in Marysville will provide Ag products and services to Heritage’s members and customers. Vice President of Marketing Travis Rowe says the campus will be used for research and development.

“We’ve got 277 acres on this site that we’re going to be able to utilize in the future for any sort of conservation projects that we want to work on. Today we’re utilizing the front section of the site for strip plots and research.” said Rowe.

Heritage Cooperative has a history of working with agriculture science programs in high schools, but Rowe says this will be its first facility to work side by side with a local school district to provide STEM opportunities for school students at all grade levels.

“They’re working to develop and outdoor science and technology curriculum to be able to use this site for some environmental research projects and their STEM program” said Rowe.

The research farm will also include agronomic and seed test plots as well as a conservation demonstration site.

The campus houses dry and liquid fertilizer storage and a grain elevator with a private track for loading and unloading. Campus Manager Dave McIntosh says the private track will allow Heritage to load and unload without blocking the main rail lines.

“When they slow down they come out onto our line. They can actually make the switches open up, so the train never actually stops out on the main line and blocks any traffic.” said McIntosh.

There are more than two miles of rail track on the Marysville campus and each building is equipped with computer automation to maximize efficiency and operator safety.