About the Center
The George Leigh Minor Plant and Soil Health Center combines UConn’s public-facing agricultural services with a flexible, collaborative, laboratory space for CAHNR. With your support, a hub for researchers to answer some of the most pressing agricultural questions and challenges facing our state and nation is open to the public.
The New Space
The Plant and Soil Health Center is housed in the annex of the Roy E. Jones Building, a currently unused area that neighbors the UConn Dairy Bar and Horsebarn Hill at UConn Storrs. It brings together several existing and physically separated specialized service centers already established at UConn:
Currently, these centers collectively process over 14,000 soil samples, 350 plant diagnostic reports, and countless phone calls and in-person visits to serve the public and the agricultural industry of our state each year. Co-housing these service centers and creating a new indoor/outdoor public learning space will allow for integration of research, teaching, and extension to fulfill UConn’s three-part mission as a land-grant university.
Teaching and Learning, Research, and Public Service
This newly renovated space is a hub of activity for students and the public to learn about the importance of agriculture and address issues on feeding the future, protecting our environment, and interacting with nature. It includes:
- demonstration gardens and displays that educate about various soil types and plants
- a space for the public to learn about the latest plant pests and pathogens
- access to diagnostic services to improve plant production
Additionally, a new research innovation lab will be created to give researchers a flexible high-tech space to conduct project-based experiments.
With all of these features together in a central location, students are more easily able to access and experience each facet of plant and soil health, from research to interacting with and educating the public.
George Leigh Minor
George Leigh Minor ’56 (CAHNR) was a lifelong farmer, dedicated UConn alumnus, and quiet philanthropist whose passion for agriculture shaped both his career and his legacy. Raised on his family’s Connecticut farm, Minor developed a love for farming at an early age, and later graduating from UConn with a degree in agriculture in 1956. Minor believed deeply in UConn’s land-grant mission and the practical impact of agricultural research and public service. Through a generous bequest to the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR), he made possible the George Leigh Minor Plant and Soil Health Center. The Minor Center reflects the same values that guided Minor throughout his life: supporting farmers, advancing sustainable agriculture, and ensuring communities have access to trusted scientific expertise. His gift will continue to strengthen connections between research, Extension, and education for generations to come.