Iowa State’s new National Swine Research and Information Center [NSRIC] will open next week to address issues of air and water contamination caused by pork producers.

“These are issues the swine industry needs addressed and the public is concerned about,” said Dennis Marple, professor and head of the animal science department.

Marple said the facility will be the first in the nation to address these concerns.

Karen Bolluyt, program director of agriculture information services, said the planning for the project began nearly 10 years ago and will bring various branches of the pork industry closer together.

“When you have federal and state institutions and pork producers all involved, things will be more efficient,” she said. “Both the pork producers and the public will benefit.”

She said as the pork production facilities grew larger, there has been more manure collecting in concentrated areas. NSRIC will help manage the growth of the industry and cut down on contamination caused by the growth, Bolluyt said.

Bolluyt said one of the goals of NSRIC was to find alternative uses for the waste products of swine.

“Manure’s a good source for organic matter and nutrients for crops, and that’s how we’d like to use it,” she said.

Marple said some other goals of NSRIC were to research healthy ways to disperse odors from production facilities and study different strategies to manage manure so there are no impacts on water quality.

Marple said the agricultural and biosystems engineering departments are leading the project, but they will host researchers from the animal science department and the agricultural research service division of the USDA. The facility will host both graduate and undergraduate research.

The new building was designed to accommodate 18 researchers, he said.

A dedication will be held at the new building, located on Pammel Drive next to the Soil Tilth Laboratory, at 9:30 am on Oct. 30.

Speakers at the dedication will include ISU President Martin Jischke, various other ISU faculty members, representatives of the pork industry and Justin Chepete, graduate student in agricultural and biosystems engineering.