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Texas AgriLife Research (formally known as Texas Agricultural Experiment Station) and its corporate, governmental and community partners have long understood this simple—yet vital—concept. Whether its developing fruit and vegetable varieties to combat disease, discovering ways to better conserve natural resources, or developing our country’s next energy source, Texas AgriLife Research scientists are in the business of meeting modern challenges with answers through agriculture and the life sciences. It’s a commitment our researchers have been making for well over a century.
Texas AgriLIFE Research at Weslaco established in 1923 continues to play a major role in keeping South Texas agriculture second to none. For almost a century, a hugely successful agricultural industry here has served as a catalyst for the area’s tremendous economic and population growth. |
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Looking to the future as always, Texas AgriLIFE Research is busy working on tomorrow’s issues today. We’re focused on concerns of major importance to our area, state, nation, and indeed, the world. Scientific and technological advancements are helping us tackle issues of great importance to our clientele, such as land and water use, urban development, population growth and foreign competition.
Our challenges are tempered by the tremendous opportunities the future affords. By exploiting cutting-edge technologies in molecular biology and the plant sciences, we’re already in the process of creating “next generation” crops that will open large, new markets for stakeholders, protect the environment and natural resources and improve the health of our citizens.
These exciting challenges and opportunities are being met by our development of “super-nutritious” fruits and vegetables, “bio-factory” crops that produce high-value compounds for medical, therapeutic and industrial uses, and “energy crops” designed and engineered to use as feedstocks for bio-energy and bio-fuel production.
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However, we’re not tackling these challenges alone. The Texas AgriLIFE Research facility is located adjacent to two other agricultural scientific institutions who are partners in our endeavors. These include the USDA/ARS Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center and the Texas A&M-Kingsville Citrus Center.
Together, these three institutions pull together the synergy of more than 40 scientists, nearly 200 support personnel, and more than 1,000 acres of research field plots. Cooperation among these three scientific institutions is stimulating exciting new research collaborations and increasing administrative efficiencies to better produce tomorrow’s crops today. |
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