In an effort to honor a key supporter, the Oklahoma Food and Agricultural Products Research and Technology Center, a part of OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, changed its name to the Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center (FAPC).

A veteran state senator from Altus, Kerr, who died in 2006, was one of the key leaders responsible for the creation of this state-of-the-art facility, which helps to discover, develop and deliver value-added products and processing to the Oklahoma agribusiness and food industries to promote economic development and business growth in the state.

Kerr began a legislative movement in the early 1980s to curb the outflow of Oklahoma premium agricultural commodities and launched an effort to use value-added manufacturing in the state to help finish products for market in the state.

After more than 10 years of industry and legislative effort, Gov. Henry Bellmon signed a bill allowing the planning and construction of FAPC. The building was completed in 1997.