LA GRANDE — Oregon State University plans to strengthen its partnership with Eastern Oregon University and expand opportunities for rangeland research, classes and field studies.

Officials say the soon-to-be expanded agricultural programs likely will benefit students and the farming community, especially in the cattle and dairy industries.

“We’re excited about the show of support for the program expansion,” said Penny Diebel, associate professor of applied economics and director of the Eastern Oregon Agriculture and Natural Resource Program.

Since 1985, Oregon State University has offered some classes and agricultural majors to students at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. The partnership, which started with one major, has grown and changed through the years. In recent years, students have been able to dual-enroll in OSU and EOU for some programs. This allows students who prefer or need to live in Eastern Oregon to take in-person OSU classes without moving to Corvallis.

OSU and EOU now are planning to take their longtime collaboration a step further by reinvigorating two programs: the Eastern Oregon Agriculture and Natural Resource Program and the Eastern Oregon Agriculture Research Center in Union.

The Eastern Oregon Agriculture and Natural Resource Program is the joint-degree program between OSU and EOU; the Union Experiment Station is where researchers study rangeland ecology, livestock systems, forage crops, forest management and other topics.

The two programs have historically operated separately, with little interaction or collaboration. Now, OSU plans to build a strong partnership between the programs.

“There have been a lot of conversations about how do we join forces more, share faculty more, use the facilities in a better way for faculty and student research,” Diebel said.

One piece of the expansion includes hiring new faculty and staff. According to Diebel, OSU is putting together job descriptions for two new positions that soon will be posted: an associate director of the Union Experiment Station and a rangeland scientist who will have research and teaching responsibilities. The scientist will work both at the Union station and on EOU’s campus.

On the curriculum side, one goal of the upcoming expansion is to strengthen the rangeland sciences degree offered in Corvallis and La Grande.

On the research side, the goal is to broaden field research opportunities for students and faculty.

Bryan Endress, OSU associate professor of rangeland ecology and management in the program, said the hands-on nature of the program will “help prepare students for the real world,” whether that means working on a family ranch, for a land management agency or elsewhere.

“Graduates from our program will be better prepared to enter the workforce, which will benefit the agricultural and natural resource community across the board,” Endress said.

Diebel said she thinks making the Union station a more active research base will both benefit Eastern Oregon students and provide opportunities for Corvallis-based OSU students to do short-term research projects and field work.

Since much of the research will relate to forage, cattle and dairy systems, Diebel said she expects many of the research findings from the expansion will benefit ranchers.

“There will also be ways for (farmers) to be involved,” Diebel said, adding faculty plan to use both public property for research and rely on private stakeholders, including area ranchers.