The University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE) has broken ground on a $285 million Agricultural Research Building.
Set to be completed in November 2026 on the university's Lexington campus, the 263,000-square-foot building will be the college’s central research hub. It will provide wet and dry research and teaching laboratories, as well as a complex of greenhouses on its roof to facilitate research in animal science, entomology, horticulture, plant sciences, plant pathology and soil science.
“With new high-tech research labs, we are able to conduct relevant research and educate graduate students who are the future scientific workforce that will serve Kentucky and beyond,” said Nancy Cox, vice president of land-grant engagement and dean of Martin-Gatton CAFE.
The building also will have a 250-seat auditorium, accommodating larger classes such as Introduction to the Horse and the Horse Industry, Domestic Animal Biology, and Bees and People. This scalable space will be used for educational lectures, community outreach and large events.
Several academic departments will have space in the facility: Animal and Food Sciences; Entomology; Horticulture; and Plant and Soil Sciences.
The Kentucky Office of the State Entomologist and Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory also will be housed in the building.
The architects are BHDP Architecture and Flad Architects.
