New NDSU ag research building a ‘much-needed’ upgrade

Rep. Paul Thomas, second from left, listens as David Boehm of the Northern Crops Institute, second from right, leads a tour of the Peltier Complex on the North Dakota State University campus on June 20, 2024. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

FARGO — After walking through the new Peltier Complex on the North Dakota State University campus, state Rep. Paul Thomas recalled a similar tour of Harris Hall, one of the research buildings the new facility replaced.

“Walking through this for the first time and seeing the contrast of what our research community was operating in, and what they will be operating in, it’s just shocking,” Thomas said.

Thomas, R-Velva, was one of the legislators on a tour of the Peltier Complex in June. Tenants started setting up in the building in late June.

The tour was led by Greg Lardy, vice president for agricultural affairs at NDSU, and David Boehm, technical manager for the Northern Crops Institute , one of the primary tenants.

The building will house three academic departments, cereal and food science, meat science, agricultural and biosystems engineering.

Other tenants are the Agricultural Products Development Center and the North Dakota Trade Office. There also is space used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and private companies.

“We’re bringing together all those entities under one roof, so we’re really for enhanced collaboration,” said Lardy, calling the Peltier Complex the largest single academic building project in NDSU history.

Lardy called the new complex a “much-needed upgrade” from Harris Hall, where food and cereal science researchers needed to get water from the bathroom if it was needed in the lab.

“Retaining good quality scientists is extremely challenging when you have working conditions like that,” Thomas said.

The Legislature in 2021 approved $70 million for the facility. An additional $15 million came from fundraising, with the naming gift from the Peltier family of Arthur.

“The return on investment that’s going to be generated here not only impacts this area of Fargo, but it’s going to play a role in helping farmers across the state – every county, every crop that’s produced here,” Lardy said.

Boehm said the building was designed to help different departments and agencies to work together.

“It’s not set up by, this is NCI space, this is USDA space,” Boehm said. “It’s meant to be collaborative, so everything that’s related to bread quality, whether that’s the grain science, or flour quality, or the baking itself, is all done in one area.”

The complex also has meat processing and meat labs and even a meat retail store.

The complex also has a pilot-scale grain milling operation.

“There’s no other system like this in the United States,” Boehm said. “There’s nothing else like this from a teaching or demonstration standpoint.”

The complex has more meeting space to accommodate visits from trade or industry groups.

With the addition of the North Dakota Trade Office, “We’re really looking for some great opportunities for enhanced market development,” Lardy said.

The Trade Office had been housed at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds in West Fargo and also has a Bismarck office.

Thomas credits the NDSU Extension Service for teaching him and other farmers about growing alternative crops, such as canola and peas. And he credits the Northern Crops Institute for helping develop markets for those products, such as the pet food industry.

He said that had dramatically changed the way he farms.

“I never can say enough about that,” Thomas said. “And I think this type of facility will just continue that for my son and hopefully his children down the road, too.”

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