The Farm Foundation Innovation and Education Campus, a hub for the food and agriculture sectors, recently opened at 31330 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Libertyville.
Courtesy of Farm Foundation
The Farm Foundation Innovation and Education Campus, billed as the Chicago area’s first food and agriculture sectors innovation hub, recently opened on the centennial Casey farm west of Milwaukee Avenue north of Libertyville.
Newly constructed on the campus at 31330 N. Milwaukee Ave., where the historic house and barn were built in 1864, the $5 million Farm Foundation Innovation and Education Center aims to nurture emerging leaders and host experience-based learning about food and agriculture for local, national and global programs.
The center is designed to be in visual harmony with the property’s historic barn and farmhouse. It houses a multimedia room, flexible gathering spaces, and a demonstration kitchen, according to a press release.
These spaces along with the outdoor fields will help engage the senses and bring agriculture to life in unique ways for stakeholders across food and agriculture through new programs, such as the AG101 Bootcamp, the release said.
Nearly 150 people joined for the Sept. 28 grand opening of the facility, envisioned as a meeting space where key players can come together to advance solutions to some of the most pressing challenges facing agriculture.
Farm Foundation built the 4,000-square-foot building on its 14-acre property, which operated as a grain and livestock farm for a large part of the 19th and most of the 20th centuries. It was selected from more than 40 sites that were being considered in the Chicago area as the perfect location to anchor Farm Foundation’s mission to build understanding at the intersections of agriculture and society, the release said.
The farm campus was selected for its ease of access by all forms of transportation, the natural beauty of the farm and surrounding area, and the multiple purposes the property enables, the release said.
Farm Foundation President and CEO Shari Rogge-Fidler spoke at the opening event reflecting on multiple inspirations and the efforts of many that came together to make the center a reality.
Michael Johanns, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture also was in attendance.
“This building will house experts and advocates in collaboration working together to build ideas and solutions to take action to change agriculture for generations to come,” Johanns said.
Ambassador Darci Vetter, head of global public policy at PepsiCo, also spoke about innovations in the agri-food supply chain and Chancellor Robert Jones of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign addressed the importance of radical collaborations and place-based strategies.
“The challenges that we face are too large and too complex for any one entity to solve alone,” Jones said.
After the ribbon cutting, the campus was open for visitors to explore. The event included several infield demonstrations of innovations in agriculture from Beck’s Hybrids, InnerPlant, John Deere, Purdue Extension UAV, Syngenta, and the University of Illinois Center for Digital Ag.
The Innovation and Education Center will be Farm Foundation’s new home, replacing its offices in Oak Brook. The project team included architecture firm Kahler Slater, project manager JLL, and general contractor Summit Design + Build.
Construction began in August 2023 and was completed in roughly 12 months.
Farm Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit accelerator of practical solutions for agriculture. For more information, visit farmfoundation.org.
Newly constructed on the campus at 31330 N. Milwaukee Ave., where the historic Casey house and barn were built in 1864, the $5 million Farm Foundation Innovation and Education Center aims to nurture emerging leaders and host experience-based learning about food and agriculture for local, national and global programs.
Courtesy of Farm Foundation