Poultry Science Research Facility

Nonrecurring Request $4,565,000

Costs for demolition of existing outbuildings, ground preparation and architecture and engineering work in preparation for the new facility were funded in FY2023 in the amount of $1.375 million. This year’s request of $4.565 million will be utilized to build a new Poultry Science Center near Clemson’s main campus on the Piedmont Research and Education Center that will provide research, teaching and outreach support to the South Carolina poultry industry, which represents 40 percent of all agriculture in the state and 80 percent of animal agriculture and accounts for approximately 13,000 jobs, per the S.C. Poultry Federation.

The current facilities at the Morgan Poultry Center were constructed prior to or during the 1970s. The addition of new, active research scientists in the areas of poultry nutrition, food safety, genetics and animal behavior has created a need for a facility that allows for creating environments that replicate current commercial poultry operations and improve opportunities for research funding from industry and government agencies.

Funding provided in the FY2022-2023 budget is being used to prepare the site location for a new Poultry Science Research Center near Clemson’s main campus on the Piedmont Research and Education Center and to develop the construction plans.

The FY2023-2024 requested funds would be used to construct the new facility, which will include:

• Four poultry grower facilities for multidisciplinary research in nutrition, animal welfare, behavior and stress physiology.
• An egg layer facility to support ongoing nutrition research and additional research in animal welfare, animal behavior and animal stress physiology.
• An animal health and intensive research facility equipped to allow researchers to conduct nutrient balance trials and other metabolism studies.

All facilities will be fitted with state-of-the-art lighting, feeding and ventilation systems, which will allow for the simulation of a variety of current industry-relevant growing conditions.