Campus Agricultural Center
Rooted in place, grounded in purpose.
An incubator for innovation, a hub for community-centered education.
Located near the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains and just two miles north of the University of Arizona's main campus, the Campus Agricultural Center is a 160-acre research, teaching, and extension facility in the heart of metropolitan Tucson.
About
Originally acquired in 1909, the Campus Agricultural Center, part of the Southern Arizona Experiment Station, serves the university's evolving land-grant mission to deliver new knowledge and technologies to support our region's social, environmental, and economic resilience.
More than an urban farm, the Campus Agricultural Center is currently home to over 70 different multidisciplinary research studies across its fields, laboratories, and greenhouses. The facility has played a critical and unique role in advancing purpose-driven science and education in areas as diverse as food security; energy and water use efficiency; veterinary medicine; biotechnology; human health and wellness; as well as animal, plant, fungal and microbial food production.
Helping to produce career-ready veterinarians.
We provide students within the College of Veterinary Medicine a home for hands-on experiential learning. Campus Agricultural Center is where these students learn general handling skills, animal husbandry, physical examination techniques and clinical skills with the university's teaching herd - comprised of horses, sheep and cows.
Food Product & Safety Laboratory
The Food Product and Safety Laboratory is a USDA-inspected meat processing facility at CAC, which will be completely renovated and expanded in early 2025. Capabilities include animal harvest, meat cut fabrication, value-added meat processing, smoking and cooking, and alternative packaging systems. Facilities include a modern lecture hall, analytic and microbiological laboratories, research kitchen and sensory testing, demonstration kitchen, and a retail store.
