Right: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom
Vilsack. WSU Photo.
Federal officials including U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack joined Washington state lawmakers and university leaders in early
August for the groundbreaking of a new U.S. Department of
Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Plant Sciences Building on
the Washington State University (WSU) campus in Pullman.
ARS is USDA’s “in-house research agency” focused on
delivering scientific solutions to national and global agricultural challenges.
ARS conducts wheat quality research through four regional Wheat Quality
Laboratories (WQLs) focused on wheat types commonly grown in its region,
including the Western Wheat Quality Laboratory also located at WSU. U.S. Wheat
Associates (USW) has strong partnerships with each WQL as well as universities
like WSU.
The new building at WSU is planned to open in 2025. The
WSU Plant Pathology, Crop and Soil Sciences, and Horticulture departments will
inhabit the new building alongside federal scientists and four ARS research
units: Wheat Health, Genetics and Quality; Grain Legume Genetics and
Physiology; Northwest Sustainable Agroecosystems; and Plant Germplasm
Introduction and Testing.
At the ground-breaking ceremony, more than 150 guests
listened as speakers discussed the 20-year path to securing support for this
new facility.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at a podium with the USDA seal addressing participants in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new ARS Plant Sciences Building at Washington State University (WSU).
Secretary Vilsack asked attendees to think ahead to a future
when the facility is completed, bustling with students, faculty, and
researchers looking to solve the problems facing farmers in Washington and far
beyond.
“There’s an effort to try to make sure that we understand
how to deal with a particular disease that is impacting wheat production. Imagine the spark, the passion, the energy, the excitement that occurs when the
solution is discovered. That’s what this facility is about, that moment of
discovery,” he said.
Vilsack noted the new facility will not only be a place for
discovery but also a resource that farmers both local and far afield of the
Palouse will benefit from in the form of new techniques and greater insight
into the vital work they do.
“To the extent that we have a university and a government
research entity in partnership, ensuring that farmer, that rancher, that
grower, that producer, can continue to be productive is an enormous opportunity
for this country, and each one of us should be thankful at this groundbreaking
for the science that’ll take place that’ll help these farmers, ranchers, and
producers continue to productive,” Vilsack said.
Elizabeth Chilton, the inaugural chancellor of the WSU
Pullman campus, noted that the groundbreaking represented much more than the
beginning of a new research facility.
“It is evidence of the incredible partnership that WSU
celebrates with USDA and our local, state, and federal legislators,
commissioners, and communities,” Chilton said. “The groundbreaking research
that this facility will support will literally change lives. This building will
support faculty members, students, and researchers partnering together to
create better crops and more sustainable farming practices so that we’re able
to better feed our planet.”
Guests and dignitaries attending a groundbreaking ceremony
at Washington State University (WSU) for a new ARS Plant Sciences Building.
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