Gov. Doug Burgum today congratulated North Dakota State University and members of the Peltier family on the naming of NDSU’s future state-of-the-art Agricultural Products Development Center (APDC) as the Peltier Complex.
Burgum signed legislation in 2019 providing $40 million in state funding for the APDC and approved additional funding earlier this year, bringing the total state investment in the Peltier Complex to $70 million. The complex joins NDSU’s food, meat and cereal science laboratories with the Northern Crops Institute, which focuses on promoting, developing and marketing crops grown in North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota.
Burgum participated today in a groundbreaking for the APDC and naming ceremony for the complex named for the Peltier family, a lead donor in supporting the private fundraising portion of the project.
“I can’t think of a name more fitting for a state-of-the-art complex,” said Burgum, who shares grandparents with the late Joe Peltier and grew up with Joe and Norma Peltier’s children Keith, Jeff, Suzette and Betty-Jo in Arthur. “The Peltier family’s history of philanthropy at NDSU didn’t start today or with this project; it’s been going on really since the time that Joe (Peltier) graduated in 1951. … This philanthropy that the Peltier family and others have combined with the state support has really provided cutting-edge research that’s led to major advances in farming, and has contributed to the agricultural success and really touched every corner of our state.”
“It’s really historic to be putting together the Ag Products Development Center, Northern Crops Institute, federal programs, Trade Office and others into an unrivaled, world-class hub of research and development,” Burgum added.