Alan Scher Zagier

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Commuters driving past the University of Missouri's South Farm can plainly see - and smell - grazing cattle, hog pens and other trappings of agricultural research.

University President Elson Floyd and other campus leaders lobbying for a new research park have a different vision: a high-tech gold mine that could transform the rural landscape south of the city limits.

"The university has to make a significant contribution to the ... economic vitality of the state," Floyd said. "It will serve as a magnet to attract business and industry in mid-Missouri."

With just 58 of the farm's 1,400-plus acres designated for the research park, the Columbia campus is intentionally starting small, said John Gardner, a newly hired vice president for research and economic development.

"It will grow at the rate the market and our success will drive it," Gardner said.

The park would be located along U.S. 63 about three miles southeast of the Columbia campus. A planned interchange will link the project with a new private housing development west of the highway.

University system curators meeting Friday at the University of Missouri-St. Louis will consider approving the research park concept. On Thursday, they toured the university-owned Missouri Research Park in southern St. Charles County.

Research park director Rick Finholt described how the park, which also was once a university agricultural research center, has grown into an economic force with its own hotel, Tom Fazio-designed golf course and a combined workforce of 15,000. He predicted the mid-Missouri project could be equally successful.

"The University of Missouri-Columbia is a very powerful research institution," Finholt said. "That's a tremendous magnet for tech companies."