By Stephen McKeever and Michael Cawley

In 2006, Oklahoma State University and the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation are positioned to continue their efforts to advance agriculture through education and research and translate agriculture bioscience innovations into economic development for the state.

Last year, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce commissioned an important study to assess Oklahoma's strengths in the biosciences. The final report, "Moving forward together: Greater OKC bioscience future," recognizes bioscience research as one of Oklahoma's greatest research strengths — vital for economic growth and expansion. The report emphasized the relationship between Oklahoma's development of innovative bioscience technologies and the state's economic future.

While the term "biosciences" evokes thoughts of human-related, biomedical research, the study went beyond these traditional areas and looked at a greater range of research activities available in Oklahoma. The report points out that some of the greatest potential to the state may be in agricultural bioscience research, specifically plant and animal science. We are pleased that the report highlighted the work of our world-class researchers and our past investments in facilities and other resources at OSU and Noble.

As the designated land-grant university in the state, OSU serves the citizens of Oklahoma through education, extension and research programs, particularly in agricultural biotechnology. Noble, a private, not-for-profit research institution, conducts agricultural, forage improvement and plant biology research and assists farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs.

While OSU and Noble will continue their individual contributions to this field, we're confident that some of the greatest opportunities will come through meaningful collaborations between our researchers. Today, OSU and Noble work together on several fronts — improving techniques and procedures used in production agriculture, pursuing new discoveries in plant science, advancing veterinary medicine and providing unique research opportunities for OSU graduate students.

Some examples of OSU-Noble projects include: improving alfalfa and other forage crops to increase their value to Oklahoma farmers and ranchers; developing solutions for precision delivery of costly fertilizer and other crop inputs; creating viable biomass alternatives for ethanol production, and providing assistance to OSU researchers who are developing vaccines to reduce or eliminate the effects of shipping fever in beef cattle, a condition that costs Oklahoma farmers and ranchers an estimated $200 million annually.

These and other bioscience research projects in the general area of agricultural biotechnology will continue to benefit the entire state, urban and rural, by placing the latest research findings into the hands of farmers, food producers and food consumers. Moreover, these findings will create opportunities in Oklahoma in the form of new companies, jobs, and investments from other states and countries.

We support and applaud the efforts of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. We further support the findings and the recommendations set forth in the report and strongly encourage increased state investment into the biosciences. OSU and Noble look forward to continued success and the positive impact our partnership will have on the Oklahoma economy, farmers and ranchers and consumers.

McKeever is vice president for research and technology transfer at Oklahoma State University. Cawley is president of The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation in Ardmore. This editorial appeared in the Daily Oklahoman, www.newsok.com, on Jan. 23, 2006.