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Educational Opportunities In the best tradition of the orchard's founders, today Kimmel Orchard remains first and foremost a place of learning about the land and how it sustains us. Orchard founders Richard and Laurine Kimmel championed the benefits of higher education. In 1925, the Kimmels developed a relationship with the University of Nebraska College of Agriculture's horticulture department, developing the orchard as a research facility for alternative crops and influencing generations of Nebraska growers and backyard gardening enthusiasts alike. Today education goes beyond production and harvest, and demonstrates to visitors the importance of caring for the land through stewardship and sustainable agricultural practices. The Kimmel Education and Research Center (KERC) continues Kimmel Orchard's longtime partnership with the University through its promotion of research and economic opportunities through the development of value-added products and markets in Nebraska and the region. Everywhere you go you see education in action, whether you are observing planting or pruning techniques on the trail, checking the hardiness of various trees, vines and plants, or watching the harvest as it is collected, sorted and processed. Through science-based applied and adaptive research, Cooperative Extension's educators with KERC assist agricultural producers with implementing marketing strategies and production techniques on their own farms. KERC also hosts and coordinates field days at Kimmel that focus on value-added agriculture, reaching producers and growers in a four-state area, along with serving as an outdoor campus for the Nebraska Agricultural Sciences Magnet Network. |
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