The 80-member San Joaquin Valley Quality Cotton Growers Association has leased the 80-acre Shafter research station from Kern County, recruited University of California researchers and initiated talks with the Kern Community College District and a number of private groups to bring cotton research back to the historic facility, reported John Cox in the Bakersfield Californian.

In addition, ag companies are expressing interest in using some of the station's vacant greenhouses, labs, storage sheds and land to conduct their own research on crops ranging from potatoes to grapes.

The...