The longstanding partnership between Texas Tech, BASF and its legacy companies has been one of the most impactful research collaborations in university history.

What does it mean to invest in research at a university?

To answer that question, one would have to look no further than the deep-rooted relationship between Texas Tech University and BASF.

Through nearly three decades of partnership between the entities and legacy companies, the full impact of BASF’s contributions to the university to date is nearly $57 million, when including matching funds.

“Texas Tech University is very grateful for and extremely proud of our long and continuing collaboration with BASF,” said Joe Heppert, vice president for Research & Innovation. “Our partnership with BASF has supported world-class agricultural research in a truly staggering range of areas, including crop genetics, precision agriculture and natural fiber characterization. Texas Tech researchers have benefited greatly from the support provided by our long partnership with BASF, and we trust that the partnership has been equally valuable for their research and development efforts. We are thrilled that this dynamic partnership will continue.”

The first gifts to Texas Tech took place in the mid-’90s for research projects concerning plant growth, crop physiology and weed research. Mike Gilbert, a Texas Tech alumnus and former employee of BASF, was the initial overseer of the partnership between the agricultural company and the university.

“Our first projects were designed to continue to improve agronomic aspects of cotton,” Gilbert said. “There are many outstanding professors at Texas Tech, and we developed win-win partnerships to allow progress in several areas. Ultimately, our customers were able to benefit from this early research as we launched several herbicide and insect-resistant traits in our cotton seed varieties.”

Success in early research projects inspired continued commitment, particularly in what is now the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources. Support from BASF and its legacy companies remained consistent throughout the early 2000s and ramped up significantly through the next decade.

“As we were experiencing success with our FiberMax brand of cotton seed, including tremendous improvement in fiber qualities, we wanted to take that success to the next level,” Gilbert said. “It was at that time we focused on aspects of fiber improvement. Texas Tech has a world-renowned fiber research team, and it was the perfect fit for both organizations. 

“In addition, we wanted to put together an agreement that would have reach into the future as we knew that new technologies were likely on the horizon. This led us to a major partnership we named Project Revolution. Over the years and continuing today, this partnership has powered numerous improvements in several crops.”

In 2013, funding was expanded with a transformational gift of $19.3 million, which established a new endowed chair, a graduate fellowship and additional research funding, all in the Department of Plant & Soil Science. Additionally, it funded the construction and renovation of the Bayer Plant Science Building and a graduate fellowship in the Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics.

The 2013 gift above was equally matched with Texas Research Incentive Program (TRIP) funding, a program formerly awarded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, bringing the total impact to $38.6 million and making it the largest cash investment for research in Texas Tech history.  

Eric Hequet, Horn Distinguished Professor and senior associate vice president for research in the Office of Research & Innovation, was the chair of plant & soil science at the time of the historic gift. He said its impact was twofold.

“It changed the way people looked at our college and our department,” Hequet said. “The new external look had more people asking questions about what we were doing than before. The second aspect was Project Revolution.”

Project Revolution is a research partnership that started between Texas Tech and Bayer CropScience with a significant gift from the legacy company in 2010 of $7.5 million. It was matched equally with TRIP funding for a total impact of $15 million. 

While a portion of that gift, $5 million, was dedicated to plant & soil science research facility renovations, the other $10 million established the research endowment that still funds Project Revolution. This project fund was amplified with considerable funding from the transformational gift in 2013. 

When Bayer sold various assets of its crop science division, including the bulk of seeds research and development, to BASF in 2018, BASF readily stepped into the Texas Tech partnership and continued the work started with Project Revolution as well as other research initiatives.

Today, through this partnership, a committee of six individuals (three from Texas Tech and three from BASF) sends out a call for research proposals from across the university twice a year. The proposals are reviewed by the committee, and those selected are awarded funding – up to several hundred thousand dollars, according to Hequet, who is familiar with the program.

While Project Revolution’s early focus was on plant and soil science and developing cotton with improved fiber qualities, it has now expanded far beyond to include proposals from colleges across campus that pertain to a wide variety of crops grown on the High Plains. 

For BASF, this development has allowed the company to exceed what would be considered traditional crop science research applications of increasing yield, crop quality and drought tolerance and delve into new and innovative uses for commodities or their byproducts.

Kermit Price, vice president and head of breeding, trait development, technologies and operations for Seeds & Traits at BASF, oversees the partnership with Texas Tech. During his 24-year tenure with BASF and legacy companies, he has had many opportunities to see firsthand the benefits of this partnership.

"Through our efforts in research and development, we’re able to bring new innovations that help farmers become more sustainable than they already are."

“Farming is the biggest job on Earth, and at BASF, we’re focused on finding solutions to farmers’ toughest challenges,” Price said. “Through our efforts in research and development, we’re able to bring new innovations that help farmers become more sustainable than they already are. Through our partnership with Texas Tech, we’re taking innovation one step further, working to identify new opportunities that result in sustainable demand for cotton in Texas and globally.

“In agriculture, we’re seeing a large focus on renewable fuels. While there isn’t an existing opportunity for cotton in the renewable fuels conversation, we’re exploring the potential for more sustainable uses for cotton beyond textiles. As we explore and develop those ideas further, we’re optimistic that these opportunities will allow cotton to become a more valuable crop in the future.”

While a university partnership has allowed BASF to explore new heights, Davis College Dean Clint Krehbiel feels the collaboration with the company has allowed the college and students to have a boots-on-the-ground connection to the industry and producers.

“Those public-private partnerships, like that with our long-term partner BASF, are incredibly important and valuable to us,” Krehbiel said. “One, it keeps us connected to industry and serving producers, which is critical to understanding the business side of things and what the industry needs are. And two, obviously, is our students have direct access to industry partners, and they get a feel for what life in that career is like, which is very valuable.”

This is especially true for Price who earned both his undergraduate and doctoral degrees in plant & soil science at Texas Tech. He had the opportunity while in school to work on a project that supported research the university was doing to evaluate water-use efficiency traits. 

From working with industry in the university lab as a student to a nearly 25-year career, Price has not only benefited from this collaboration in his own life, but he has seen others reap the same opportunities time and time again. The cross-collaboration fostered between industry, academia and even students builds a network that expands beyond research projects.

“I think one of the most important things are the relationships you develop,” Price said, “because whether you’re in a university or a corporation, you primarily build your network where you work, and sometimes it can be tough to build that dialogue outside of your primary organization. However, this public-private partnership provides us an opportunity to bring together different areas of expertise, expanding the network and thinking of multiple ways you can achieve an objective.”

The majority of this cross-collaborative research over the past decade took place in the BASF Seeds and Innovation Center and the adjoining greenhouse. With funding from the 2013 gift, Texas Tech renovated the Ninth Street building into a trait development facility and constructed a new greenhouse with over 32,000 square feet of space. As part of the agreement between the two entities, Texas Tech owned the buildings, and BASF owned all the equipment inside the facilities.

BASF recognized the need for Texas Tech to expand its research capacity and recently offered the university the opportunity to more directly utilize much of this research space on campus, including the very generous decision to give Texas Tech all the equipment in the innovation center and greenhouse – a gift worth over $2 million. This donation will enable the university to run trials and analyses that previously were not possible with existing equipment.

"I am excited for the future and very grateful for BASF’s generosity in providing Texas Tech with a new laboratory, a greenhouse, office space and a vast quantity of donated equipment to benefit plant science research." 

“These gifts will accelerate our efforts to make Texas Tech the world’s academic leader in plant genomics, crop science and agricultural innovation," Heppert said. “BASF’s actions have provided a mechanism to realize our aspirations for future expansion of this research. Our team was ready for a substantial expansion of research space and plant growth capacity, and once again, our long partnership with BASF continues to bear fruit for Texas Tech.”

Krehbiel shares this excitement as it opens doors for researchers in Davis College.

“This is huge for us because it’s very high-tech instrumentation,” Krehbiel said. “Having BASF gift Texas Tech that instrumentation and equipment moves us forward exponentially.”

While Davis College will have a prominent presence focusing on plant, crop and soil science in the facility, Hequet said there also will be a cross-disciplinary space similar to Experimental Sciences Buildings I and II and the new Academic Sciences Building.

There are plans to divide the innovation center into two wings: One will house a crop genetics lab and the other Hequet hopes to remodel into a home for several projects from multiple colleges across campus. Just as they plan for what could be done in the innovation center, Hequet is mapping out the potential the greenhouse and the associated equipment will have for researchers at Texas Tech.

"The greenhouse will change everything because it is humongous."

“The space is perfect and it’s in excellent condition. Its size will significantly increase our capacity for research in plant and soil science, biology, water and more,” Hequet said. 

While there is certainly an appreciation for the recent gift from BASF and the opportunities presented by the use of the facilities, Hequet said the company’s departure from campus does not change the connection between Texas Tech and BASF.

“Their team for field work did not change,” Hequet said. “BASF remains a part of the Lubbock community, and their Breeding & Trait Development Station is next to the (Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute) on the East Loop. Project Revolution will continue to flourish. (The decision to move out of the Seeds & Innovation Center) does not change anything in terms of our longstanding relationship.”

For BASF, its eyes are turned to the future.

“For nearly 30 years this partnership has delivered new and exciting opportunities for cotton growers in Texas and outside the state’s borders,” Price said. “We’re excited to see what new outcomes and opportunities this partnership will create in the next decade, and I sense the same energy from the Texas Tech team.”