USDA, UNL celebrate ‘new frontier’ of Nebraska’s ag research and innovation partnership

University of Nebraska, state and federal leaders ceremonially break ground on the new U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service Naitonal Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. May 6, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — University of Nebraska officials Monday welcomed the groundbreaking of a new U.S. Department of Agriculture facility that they say will “expand the frontiers of agriculture.”

U.S. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. May 6, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Joined by Nebraska’s federal and state leaders, NU leaders at Nebraska Innovation Campus turned soil for the official groundbreaking of the USDA Agricultural Research Service National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture. The $140 million federally funded facility will house ARS scientists and staff focused on the next generation of agriculture science.

“This groundbreaking marks the beginning of an initiative that is going to expand the frontiers of agriculture,” U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said Monday. “… We look forward to the breakthroughs that they will make in the future because of this funding.”

Mike Boehm, NU’s vice president for agriculture and natural resources and vice chancellor of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, said construction will begin between this summer and fall on greenhouses, with an ultimate goal for more climate-resilient crops.

The proposed site (red outline) of the ARS National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture at Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln. (Courtesy of Craig Chandler, University Communication & Marketing, UNL)

The facilities will enable scientists to continue research on wheat, barley, sorghum, forage and bioenergy grasses and more crops with research exploring pests, diseases and climate change.

Phase two of the project, which Fischer and other congressional leaders are securing funding for, Boehm said, will include a large lab building the size of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Scarlet Hotel to round out the 120,000-square-foot complex.

U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., said university leaders first approached him in 2008, during his time as speaker of the Nebraska Legislature, with the idea to move the Nebraska State Fair and build a research innovation campus on the fairgrounds.

Years later, Flood sees the campus as continuing a goal for high skill, high wage research jobs.

“You couldn’t pick a better city in America with a city that wants to and is growing and looking for ways to expand our research efforts,” Flood said.

Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA chief scientist and under secretary of research, education and economics, said the USDA “can once again lead the world” when it comes to discovering and disseminating solutions for global agriculture and natural resource problems.

She said she’s pleased that President Joe Biden, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and members of Congress “remain committed to supporting federal agricultural research, development and deployment, which will shape and define innovation for decades to come.”

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln event also featured Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen; interim NU President Chris Kabourek; USDA-ARS Administrator Simon Liu; UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett; U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb.; and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb.

Mike Boehm, vice chancellor for the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and NU’s vice president for agriculture and natural resources. May 6, 2024. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Fischer noted the facility will push boundaries, resulting in taxpayer dollars coming back to Nebraska by increasing efficiency and producing more with less.

Boehm said the university and USDA have partnered for more than a century, including with 67 current department scientists who already call East Campus home, and this extends those efforts.

“What happens next in ag innovation, our new frontier, happens first in America,” Boehm said. “And what happens first in America related to the resilience and regenerative nature of agriculture and our bioeconomy begins right here in Nebraska.”

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