Already home to superior business, agriculture, and vocational education, Richland Community College has a long history of bridging education and business to meet the needs of its students and the surrounding communities.

About the Agribusiness Applied Technology Park

The Agribusiness Applied Technology Park (AATP) is a result of Richland’s vision to be a leader in College-stimulated entrepreneurship and economic development. The AATP houses applied research and development activities of high-tech agribusiness and manufacturing companies eager to leverage the talented Decatur-area workforce, the location of the College and community, and the regional-global company partnership opportunities.

The AATP, in conjunction with Richland and Progress City USA, serves as the foundation for an economic engine enhancing local, regional, and global competitiveness. The AATP is strategically driven. Our strategic goals address resources, economic development, and applied/new technology. These goals further direct our focus to the stakeholder groups covering education, business and industry, and community and government.

Richland Community College is proud of its efforts to create a destination site that differentiates the AATP from other parks, and creates synergistic opportunities for new park residents.

Location

The AATP is located on the campus of Richland Community College in Decatur, Illinois. Richland boasts an ideal location at the heart of business, next to a leading biofuels producer, near a food technology leader and an energy mining leader, and at the center of the nation’s agriculture business and research corridor. We take pride in our location and consider it a privilege to preserve it and use it wisely.

Strategic Partnerships

The AATP is strategically driven. Our strategic goals address resources, economic development, and applied/new technology. These goals further direct our focus to the stakeholder groups covering education, business and industry, community, and government.

The AATP is a result of Richland’s vision to be a leader in College-stimulated entrepreneurship and economic development. The AATP continues to establish a network of laboratory, manufacturing, and financial businesses to become a national hub of applied research-based entrepreneurship facilitating incremental intellectual property and revenue opportunities for both the AATP residents and their global partners.

Richland’s work with companies like Archer Daniels Midland, Tate & Lyle, Caterpillar, Mueller, Grain Systems Incorporated, Cargill, PPG Industries, and many others, as well as iconic partnerships with Progress City USA and the Farm Progress Show, the Center for Sustainability and Innovation, the National Sequestration Education Center, the Agribusiness Education Center, the Shilling Community Education Center, the Industrial Technology Center has put the College in this enviable position.

For Richland, the AATP will draw upon student and faculty resources at the College by providing hands-on learning opportunities and engaging the expertise of college and regional university professors/researchers to facilitate the commercialization of emerging ideas. The first-of-its-kind community college applied research culture at the Park will revitalize the knowledge economy of the area and lead to sustained business/industrial growth, as well as give rise to pioneering enterprises that could spawn entirely new area economies.

Current Partners located in the AATP

Visitors at the Richland AATP are greeted with a cluster of the park’s first three buildings. These include the Center for Sustainability and Innovation, the Macon County Soil & Water Building, and the National Sequestration Education Center. Tenants of these buildings include University of Illinois Extension, Macon County Water & Soil Office, Agriculture Watershed Institute, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency.

Progress City USA

The AATP is adjacent to Progress City USA, the Heartland’s premier meeting center and largest outdoor convention site. The 80-acre site features fully equipped outdoor convention facilities, including permanent restrooms, parking for 23,000; and telephone, Internet, and electricity lines. In alternating years, Progress City USA and Richland Community College host the Farm Progress Show, known as the “super bowl of agriculture.” The Farm Progress Show showcases the latest in agribusiness technology, tools, and services.