New Saginaw Valley facility to focus on dry beans and sugar beets
Michigan State University’s new 250-acre Saginaw Valley Research and Extension Center is one of 15 specialized research facilities across the state that make up the MSU Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station system. Opened in spring 2009, the new research farm is located in an area close to where the state’s major cash crops – beets, beans, corn, wheat and soybeans – are grown.
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Most of the state’s dry bean and sugar beet production is located in Michigan’s Saginaw Valley and Thumb area. Michigan is America’s:
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No. 1 producer of black beans
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No. 2 producer of dry beans, an industry that added more than $104 million to the state’s economy in 2007
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No. 4 producer of sugar beets, with a $124 million production value in 2007
The new farm is located at 9923½ Krueger Rd., four miles north of Frankenmuth. It replaces the 120-acre Saginaw Valley Bean and Beet Research Farm established by MAES in 1971. More...