The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and NC State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have officially broken ground on a new plant research facility at NC State, according to a release.
“This investment in modern scientific infrastructure reflects USDA’s commitment to pioneering research and cutting-edge solutions that ensure growers can be more productive, profitable and resilient,” said USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young in the release. “It also underscores the importance of our partnership with NC State to bring state-of-the-art scientific computing to this campus that will help expand the frontier of agricultural science.”
The 51,296 square-foot facility will house approximately 30-40 crop research experts from ARS and NC State University. Their primary focuses will include maize, soybean, wheat, cotton and peanuts. The completed facility will include processing areas, office and research spaces organized in wings corresponding to their respective crop.
“The impact of agriculture and agribusiness in North Carolina exceeds $100 billion,” added NC State University Chancellor Randy Woodson in the release. “We’re excited to partner with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service on this facility and its solutions-driven approach for crops that are important economic drivers of the state’s economy.”
The ARS calculates that every dollar invested in the U.S. into agricultural research delivers $20 of economic impact.
