Where else but Nebraska would farmers prefer innovative research on resilient, regenerative and precision agriculture on a national scale to be conducted?

And in Nebraska, Innovation Campus — the former state fairgrounds sandwiched between Salt Creek Roadway, the Devaney Sports Center and Salt Creek in Lincoln — seems to be the perfect fit for a new USDA Agricultural Research Service facility that will headquarter this kind of forward-thinking research.

With a groundbreaking set for May 6, phase one of the new National Center for Resilient, Regenerative and Precision Agriculture — a greenhouse facility — will commence in a greenspace just east of the current Greenhouse Innovation Center at Nebraska Innovation Campus (NIC).

The $160 million USDA laboratory building and greenhouse in one form or another has been in the dreaming stages going back more than a decade, says Mike Boehm, University of Nebraska vice president and Harlan Vice Chancellor for UNL’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Funding and planning are finally coming together to make those dreams reality, Boehm says.

Filling a need

“This facility highly aligns with Gov. [Jim] Pillen’s goal of advancing the bioeconomy,” Boehm says. “Farmers and ranchers, in my opinion, are the originators of the bioeconomy.”

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Biofuels, of course, are part of that conversation, Boehm says, but beyond the biofuels industry, research and development is moving into using biomaterials and bioproducts as a foundation to fibers in clothing, building materials and other goods.

“This is important for Nebraska and the region because it is thinking about agriculture in a creative way,” Boehm says. “We are perfectly positioned to lead the country in this new bioeconomy.”

MOVING DIRT: This area east of the UNL Greenhouse Innovation Center at NIC is where the new USDA ARS facility will be built, with official groundbreaking this spring. (Curt Arens)

He says that Nebraska leads the way in terms of resilience, regenerative and precision agriculture, so locating this national research center in Lincoln was a natural choice.

A budget package passed by the House and Senate and signed by the president in March includes $25 million for the construction of this USDA facility at NIC. The most recent funding effort was led by Nebraska legislators, U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer and U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, with support from the entire federal delegation from the state.

“As the senior member of the Nebraska delegation and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Fischer championed this funding in the Senate,” Boehm says. “She was able to make sure this was highly prioritized. Congressman Flood picked up that sentiment and carried the water for the package on the House side.”

Long time coming

But this latest funding moving the project forward is just the latest phase of an idea that goes back to support from former U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson in 2008, Boehm says. In 2010, the potential federal funding vaporized, and former U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenbury ran with the concept in 2020.

The first $11 million in appropriation for planning came, and then another $25 million was appropriated for the project in 2021. Boehm says, in all, there has been $56.2 million in federal funding so far.

WHAT IT WILL LOOK LIKE: The planned $160 million NCRRPA will be located at NIC in an open area just east of the current greenhouse facilities and will include new greenhouses and a laboratory office building. (USDA ARS)

While phase one construction will include greenhouses that will be connected to the UNL greenhouses currently located at NIC, this is just the beginning. The new greenhouses, Boehm says will double the size of the current greenhouse facility, and it will be built in a way to augment the facility that is already in place. “The lab office building will be roughly the size of the current Scarlet Hotel located at NIC,” Boehm says.

Eventually, the national center will be home to research and development in agricultural technology, precision agriculture and other ag innovations. It will house four ARS research units, including two new teams focused on precision production and water, climate and resilience, and growing the number of high-quality jobs in agriculture. There will be 76 research staff and a total of 150 USDA scientists located at the center.

Getting products to farmers sooner

As a companion to the USDA facility, the new Ag Tech Incubator and Accelerator facility planned at NIC will serve as an incubator, moving research concepts from the national center more quickly into the commercialization phase and providing solutions for farmers, ranchers and food manufacturers.

Boehm says that Nebraska Legislature and the governor approved $25 million in state funding for this facility in 2022, as long as UNL could raise an additional $25 million in private funding. Boehm notes that private funding for this facility is moving forward and is one of the priorities for the ongoing Only in Nebraska campaign.

“We’ve been talking with a lot of groups thinking about what it looks like, how this can close the distance between novel ideas for great technology and thinking about the length of time it takes to protype a concept, get it field evaluated and built, and in the hands of producers and processors,” Boehm says. “Through this project, we want to close that distance to get products to commercialization sooner. The bottom line is building the state’s economy. That’s a big piece of it.”

From Boehm’s standpoint, locating the new national center at NIC is a major achievement. “They could have chosen anywhere to locate this center, but they chose Nebraska,” he says.