RUPERT, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The University of Idaho is helping to build a new research center in Rupert.

The Idaho Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, otherwise known as CAFE, is currently under construction in the heart of Idaho’s dairy industry.

Mireille Chahine, the acting head of the University of Idaho Animal, Veterinary, and Food Sciences Department, explained why that location was chosen.

“If you look at it within 100 miles each way, you have approximately 400,000 dairy cows,” Chahine said. “We are the third state in milk production in the nation.”

The center’s aim is to address the problems facing the agriculture and food processing industries,

Rick Naerabout, president of the Dairymen’s Association, said the facility will focus on water usage and environmental issues.

“On the water side, we’d be looking at both water quality and water volumes,” Naerabout said. “And when I say water volumes, I’d be looking at, are there different forages we could consider feeding here in the state of Idaho.”

The research center will also allow students from the University of Idaho to participate.

“We give the opportunity to both graduate students as well as undergraduate students to be involved in doing research that is relevant to the dairy industry. But we also have the opportunity to work with veterinary students, for example. Our vision is to have them come for rotations and work with large animals.”

Research is essential to both the industry and the community, Chahine said.

“This is not only a dairy facility,” Chahine said. “This is going to allow us to answer questions related to forages, to feed, to food processing, to impact on the environment, on the economy, on our communities.”

Phase one is finishing up, according to project manager Pete Jones. Cows are supposed to start coming in and being milked by spring 2026.

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