February 9, 2024
(press release)
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Play Video CORVALLIS, Ore. -- The U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Xochitl Torres Small, toured the Oregon State University's College of Forestry. Her visit is part of a national tour of Land Grant colleges across the country. The tour highlighted a lot of the research being done at Oregon State University to the Deputy Secretary of the USDA. Much of the research at OSU is a collaborative effort with heavy investment from the Department of Agriculture. "To get to see the research that's being done and meet the students who are at the cutting edge of defining the future of Ag. is the best part of my job," Torres Small said. Torres Small met with OSU officials at the A.A. "Red" Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory. It houses the Tallwood Design Institute, which is dedicated to furthering the work associated with timber design, engineering, and construction, among other things. Her tour mostly focused on mass timber, human-made engineered wood that can be used as an alternative building material. "It is that next generation that is going to make sure that we can farm long into the future, that we can rebuild healthy forests and also support local economies all at the same time," said Torres Small. She saw many projects the institute was working on, many of which have to do with affordable housing. Mass timber can be pre-manufactured, which significantly cuts down on construction time. OSU officials like Director Iain MacDonald also said mass timber leaves less of a carbon footprint than other materials like steel and concrete. "Essentially kind of like a LEGO kit you can use to replace concrete and steel, so the buildings that for the last 100 years have predominantly used those materials we now can build with wood," MacDonald said. Deputy Secretary Torres Small also spoke about the funding given to institutes like OSU and mentioned chiefly the Inflation Reduction Act. "The work that's being done here with mass timber is just one example of that, how investing in research and connecting that to the private sector and opportunities can help address some of our greatest challenges," she said.
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