Federal funds boost local industry, agriculture

NEW MADRID, Mo - Funds from the Delta Regional Authority will impact industry and agriculture in New Madrid County.

The New Madrid County R-1 School District will receive $256,500 to update the District’s Technical Skills Center at New Madrid. The Fisher Delta Research Extension and Education Center at Portageville will use the $258,689 it received to re-establish its soil and water testing facility.

Dr. Sam Duncan, R-1 superintendent, said the building which houses much of the District’s technical skills classes was originally built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He said the renovations will make the classrooms more inviting for students.

Plans call for the addition of air conditioning to the rooms currently without air conditioning. Also the money will provide for painting, new lighting, new flooring and ceiling tiles and new doors for classrooms.

“These are some things the District has really wanted to do and until now was unable to do,” Duncan said. “This will be a facelift for every tech skills classroom.”

Duncan praised efforts by the TSC Director Rene Smith and the support of State Rep. Don Rone in enabling the District to receive this and other grants for the TSC. He emphasized the District and the TSC are working closely with local and regional companies as well.

“Our School Board wants to create a program that is developing a workforce in the Missouri Bootheel and particularly New Madrid County,” he said. “We want to be part of the solution to the problem of the shortage of people to go into the trades in the businesses coming here.”

Dr. Justin Calhoun, who recently joined the Fisher Delta Research Extension and Education Center as a crop specialist, will oversee the renovations made possible in part by the DRA funding for the testing site.

Calhoun said while there was once a soil and plant testing lab at the Center, it has been closed for several years. It is now in need of a facility upgrade and up-to-date equipment.

“We will start with the building first. We want to make sure we have the facility right and as we get more support, we hope to buy the equipment,” Calhoun said. The equipment will be used for soil, plant and water testing.

“We are hoping to do testing for local landowners along with more specialized testing. The new equipment will bring quicker results and more real time data,” he said.

Calhoun said there is a lot of local support for reopening the testing lab.

Also he noted the Center has added a new rice agronomist and a new cotton agronomist to the staff. “We are excited to work with growers and help anyway we can,” Calhoun said and urged area farmers to contact them at the Center.

According to a news release from the DRA, the monies are part of the DRA States’ Economic Development Assistance Program, the agency’s primary federal funding program that invests in basic public infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, workforce development and small business projects.