With $1 million in pledges already secured, the California Dairy Technology Center is kicking off the public phase of its $3 million fund-raising campaign to build a state-of-the art educational dairy facility that will serve high-school, community-college and university students. The only such facility in the nation, the dairy center will be a collaborative effort of the California dairy industry, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the College of the Sequoias and the Tulare Joint Union High School District. "This center will form a critical part of the infrastructure in our dynamic California dairy industry, said Ron Foster, campaign chair and president of Foster Dairy Farms in Modesto. "The ability to perform cutting-edge research and educate future industry leaders in a truly commercial-size dairy is a capability unsurpassed by any other facility." The planned dairy technology center, which will break ground in 2001 in Tulare, will include a 1,000-cow dairy and initially serve as many as 430 students per year, more than half of them enrolled in high school or community college. The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine will administer the center, with industry and academic councils providing guidance and oversight. The center will maintain operations through the sale of milk and dairy byproducts. The new model dairy will provide expanded educational opportunities to meet both regional and statewide employment needs. Students will receive academic and technical training in animal care, business management, animal science and veterinary medicine. It is hoped the team atmosphere of the center also will engender student outreach activities that will encourage students to pursue university studies and science-related careers. The new facility will replace existing dairies at the College of the Sequoias and Tulare High School, which have been crowded out by urban development. The research and teaching missions of the dairy technology center, which is an off-campus facility, are different from ongoing research and teaching activities at the UC Davis dairy on the main campus, and the two dairies are expected to complement one another. Dairy industry members will be active participants in the Tulare center, maintaining critical access to applied research findings related to on-farm food safety; food animal health, productivity and welfare; public health; consumer education; and environmental health. Dairy-related businesses already have made sizable gifts to the center, including a $200,000 waste-management system from Bion Technologies in West Amherst, N.Y.; milking machinery valued at more than $300,000 from Alfa Laval Agri of Kansas City, Mo.; and architectural design services from Harlan Westbrook, owner of Progres-sive Dairy Design in Tulare. Private funds and industry involvement are still being sought for construction of state-of-the-art barns and classroom facilities. The center will be built in Tulare on 80 acres of the UC Veterinary Medical Teaching and Research Center, a satellite facility of the School of Veterinary Medicine. The College of the Sequoias is contributing cattle, the value of its milk quota and $500,000. Tulare Joint Union High School District will supply its herd and milk quota. The academic collaborators also will contribute faculty expertise from their respective dairy education programs. The dairy technology center is intended to help maintain California's competitive edge as the foremost milk-producing region in the world. In 1998, California's milk and cream sales totaled $3.29 billion.