The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and North Carolina State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences hosted a groundbreaking ceremony September 6 to celebrate the construction of a new plant research facility.
The new facility is designed to support scientific research that addresses agricultural challenges impacting farmers and consumers nationwide.
This state-of-the-art facility will house approximately 30 to 40 experts from ARS and NC State University who will conduct research on maize, soybean, wheat, cotton and peanuts. When completed, the 51,296 square-foot, single-story building will feature processing areas, office and research spaces organized in wings corresponding to their respective crop.
"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 Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA chief scientist and under secretary for research, education and economics. "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 Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in U.S. agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.
