One of the nation’s largest food industries will soon find its innovation hub in Alabama, thanks to Auburn University’s new Charles C. Miller Poultry Research and Education Center. The 30-acre, multi-facility complex will celebrate the opening of its newest facility, an administration and classroom building, April 10 at 3 p.m.
Current and planned Miller Center facilities and technologies reflect every detail of the U.S. poultry industry—from hatching to housing to processing and beyond—to offer a comprehensive lab environment for university students and research faculty as well as industry professionals across the nation.
Research at the Miller Center will target key issues of efficiency and sustainability in poultry production, avian health and well-being and food safety and quality.
“The poultry industry is the largest and fastest-growing food industry in the country,” said Paul Patterson, dean of Auburn’s College of Agriculture. “As this industry grows, we need solid, reliable research and training to ensure the level of quality, safety and efficiency that consumers and businesses deserve. We are proud to offer the nation’s leading poultry scientists and professionals the very best in research and teaching facilities at the Miller Center.”
The Miller Center broke ground in 2016 with the construction of two nutrition and poultry management research facilities as well as an equipment testing and demonstration facility, which houses the National Poultry Technology Center. The site of the Miller Center was already home to a feed mill and animal and poultry nutrition center, built in 2012.
Auburn is preparing to break ground on the Miller Center’s next facility, a state-of-the-art processing plant, which will serve as a stage for developing new, improved methods of controlling food-borne pathogens and advancing the use of data-driven poultry processing technology.
The Miller Center’s final phase of construction will include a hatchery facility, a battery house, chamber and breeder houses and floor pen houses.
For more information on the Miller Center at Auburn, visit poul.auburn.edu/miller-center.