County looking for interest in Cotton Research Station

Kern County is requesting letters of interest for proposed projects or activities at the Shafter Cotton Research Station - a California Historical Landmark.

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the Kern County Property Management Department held an open house with most of the buildings at the station open for inspection.

The station was built in 1922 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop the state's cotton industry. In a tour of the facility last week, Jim Damian, chief economic development officer for Kern County, explained that almost 100 years ago, the U.S. President dispatched an individual to scour the nation to find the best form of cotton. Enter Wofford Benjamin Camp - the former USDA researcher turned owner of DM Camp & Sons - who was sent to California to promote commercial cotton production in 1917 for the World War I effort.

Camp became the first director of the Shafter Cotton Research Station. The facility includes a 20-acre campus comprising 23 buildings and is surrounded by 60 acres of configured experimental plot land, according to the station's website. The plot land has a permanent underground irrigation system with a deep well and surface supplies provided by the Shafter-Wasco Irrigation District.

The station became California Historical Landmark No. 1022 on March 3, 1997, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places the same year. Onsite historical structures occupy 11,580 square feet and include the original front and rear laboratory building, superintendent's residence, cotton gin and greenhouse. Due to government budget cuts, the USDA withdrew its management of the station, and the San Joaquin Valley Quality Cotton Growers Association took over the facility to further its research initiatives.

Recently the association was disbanded and vacated the station.

Now, the research station has shifted ownership to Kern County and awaits a new life. According to Damian, uses being considered for the site include, but are not limited to, an agtech incubator, research center and school. The county is considering hiring a firm to do a feasibility study, or potentially sell or donate the facility

Letters of interest to the county can be submitted to Tim Garrison at garrisont@kerncounty.com or Katie Watkins at watkinsk@kerncounty.com. An auction for onsite agricultural gear and equipment will take place Saturday, Dec. 7, at 9 a.m.