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            Auburn University - University Relations
                         (334) 844-9999
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5/3/95                  Mitch Emmons

PLANNING FUNDS ALLOCATED FOR AU POULTRY SCIENCE BUILDING

      AUBURN -- Auburn University has received $506,000 in federal 
funds to conduct an engineering and architectural study for its proposed 
new $12 million poultry science building -- a project supported by 
Alabama's poultry industry.
      The facility, which will be financed through a 50-50 match of 
federal dollars and funding from state and industry sources, will house 
teaching, research and outreach programs within AU's Department of 
Poultry Science.
      "This appropriation represents the work of a three-way 
partnership committed to the economic development of Alabama," said AU 
President William Muse. "The Alabama congressional delegation, spurred on 
by Senators (Howell) Heflin and (Richard) Shelby and Representatives 
(Tom) Bevill, (Sonny) Callahan and (Glen) Browder, has teamed with the 
state's poultry industry and Auburn University.
      "The beneficiaries will be the people of Alabama, through 
enhancement of a major agricultural industry's economic competitiveness."
      AlabamaÕs $7.5 billion poultry and egg industry is the nation's 
third largest, according to a joint study by AU and the University of 
Alabama. The state provides 13 percent of the nation's total poultry and 
egg production; poultry-related industry is directly responsible for 
nearly 24,000 jobs and indirectly accounts for an additional 30,000 jobs, 
or 10 percent of Alabama's economy.
      "Poultry science departments in the U.S. have been the main 
source of research data that have allowed poultry and egg production to 
move from backyard flocks to the world's most efficient producer of 
animal protein in a short 50 years," said Robert Brewer, head of AU's 
Department of Poultry Science.
      "Through support of this state-of-the-art teaching, research and 
outreach facility for poultry science at Auburn, we are taking a giant 
step toward becoming one of the nation's major poultry science centers."
      Rick Heartsill, executive director of the Alabama Poultry and Egg 
Association, said the new facility will help ensure that Alabama's 
leading agricultural commodity continues to grow.
      "Because of the economic importance of poultry to the state, it 
is imperative that we continue to have a poultry science department 
second to none," he said. "This facility not only will provide important 
research, but also training and educating of students who will one day be 
leaders in the industry."
      The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reviewed the AU project 
proposal and recommended that it be funded by Congress, Heartsill added.
      "The University of Arkansas is presently moving into new poultry 
science facilities that were built with matching funds from the federal 
and state governments," Heartsill said. "Due to a consolidation of 
poultry science departments around the country, industry leaders expect 
only two or three additional facilities will be built by the turn of the 
century."
      "Without this new facility, we are facing the possibility that 
Auburn University might not have a poultry science department in the 
foreseeable future," said Gerald Bailey, an industry leader who has 
helped spearhead the project. "That would be a disaster to Alabama's 
ability to compete with other states in poultry production and it would 
be a blow to Alabama's economy."
      Heartsill says the poultry industry in Alabama has committed to 
provide funding, which could exceed $1 million, to equip the facility 
when construction is completed.
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CONTACT: Brewer, 334/844-2601; and Heartsill 800/254-2732.