USDA and Washington State University held a ceremony to commemorate the beginning of construction on a Plant Sciences Building that will serve as an agricultural research facility housing sciences from the university and USDA’s Agricultural Research Services department.
Research conducted at the facility will focus on improving the health, sustainability, and profitability of dryland and irrigated agriculture in the Pacific Northwest.
“Robust and innovative agricultural research is a requisite to confronting many of the challenges we are facing, from feeding a growing world population and improving farming practices to tackling the effects of a changing climate,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, in a statement. “The collaboration between USDA and Washington State University we celebrate today opens a new era in a long research partnership and pushes the boundaries of what is possible for agriculture through a commitment to ensuring our farmers are equipped with world-class research that leads to real-world, practical solutions.”
Four research Agricultural Research Services units will be housed in the new building: Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality; Grain Legume Genetics and Physiology; Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems; and Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing. In addition, members of the university’s Departments of Plant Pathology, Crop, Soil Sciences, and Horticulture will share lab and office space with federal researchers.
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