WATERLOO -- A third, perhaps lesser-known, piece of the Cedar Valley TechWorks project -- an ag exhibit center -- may do more than the others to bind the region's agriculture heritage with the possibilities of its future, organizers say.

Work recently started on construction of Tech 1, one of two main buildings in the TechWorks project, which will include a technology center, a manufacturing cluster and an ag exhibit center.

The technology center will be designed to help ensure the availability and quality of a knowledgeable work force and provide a forum for research and development, academic research, education and work force training, planners say.

The manufacturing center will have facilities and programs that will help pave the way for new product to find markets and help create private-sector opportunities.

The ag exhibit center, they say, will capitalize on the growing economy for ag heritage tourism, providing resources for visitors, from agriculture past to agriculture of the future. They add that the center also helps educate the public on the uses and benefits for bio-based products.

"It's a very complementary piece of what we're going to portray at the ag center (at TechWorks)," said Mary Swehla, director for visitor services for Deere & Co., which donated two former manufacturing buildings to the project and will contribute materials to the exhibit center. "This will have some Deere acknowledgement, of course, but it will focus on the history of agriculture in Iowa."

The ag exhibit center is still in the planning stages. Work on the 35,000-square-foot project, expected to cost between $6 million and $8 million, likely will get going sometime next summer, said Swehla, who is in charge of the project.

The center likely will take three to five years to complete, she said.

"There's always a lot of interest in it, but we're just getting started in making contacts," she said. "We're anxious to get moving with it. It's going to be a very complementary piece."

The center will showcase biotechnology, the technology involved in agriculture development and the evolution of biotechnology, she said.

"It should be really educational, a lot of hands on things we're planing," she said. "It's also our hope we'll have it be a visitor information center where we can also promote and encourage people to do other ag activities in northeast Iowa, as well. It should complement ag exhibits."

The center also should be a big draw to the 43-acre TechWorks campus in downtown Waterloo, Swehla said.

"I think anything that relates to ag or John Deere is a huge attraction, just based on what we saw at the 90th anniversary celebration last weekend," Swehla said.

"I think the information that we'll tell is going to attract people that even if they don't have an ag background, there will be something in it for everyone."

The more people in the area know about the exhibit center, the more interest it's likely to generate, she added.

"I think a lot of people don't understand it yet, but the more we communicate, more people will get on board and there will be a lot of energy about it being all in one space and the opportunity to grow and explore different things they may not be aware of," she said. "It will be complementary to things we can offer visitors to see here in Iowa."

Cary Darrah, executive director of TechWorks, said the idea is not to simply create a John Deere-focused museum, which can be found in Moline, Ill., where Deere's headquarters are located.

"It will feature enough history about Deere and ag to explain where we are in the ag economy," Darrah said. "The intent is not to repeat what they do at the Deere Center in Moline, but we need enough history in this current site to explain and really articulate the importance of ag in the new bio economy. This will have some Deere acknowledgement, of course, but it will focus on the history of agriculture in Iowa."

Contact Jim Offner at (319) 291-1598 or jim.offner@wcfcourier.com.