Murray Secures $5 Million for New Agricultural Research Facility at WSU

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that
she included $5 million for a new Agricultural Research Service (ARS) center at
Washington State University in the Fiscal Year 2011 Senate spending bill that
was approved today by the Appropriations Committee.

The funding will support agricultural research and create
approximately 150 jobs locally.

“Washington state’s consumers, farmers, students and
economy will all significantly benefit from this new agricultural research
facility,” said Senator Murray. “This new state-of-the-art
facility will bring jobs and economic growth to our communities, a world-class
education to our students, and will help ensure that the highest quality food
continues to be grown in Washington state.”

“Washington State University is very proud of our
working relationship with ARS, and we are excited about moving forward with
construction of this much-needed facility,” said Washington State
University President Elson Floyd.  “With Senator Murray’s
leadership, WSU and ARS will implement break-through plant breeding research in
the new facility.”

As the main research arm of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, ARS maintains about 100 facilities nationwide.  ARS-Pullman
is one of the major research sites of the Northwest, and a new facility will
provide much-needed lab space and technical improvements to expand research
capacity for the region.

ARS scientists in Pullman research a variety of
agricultural issues, ranging from crop development to animal health to
environmental protection.  Currently, specific research subjects include
grain and legume genetics, plant germplasm introduction and testing, animal
diseases, integrated pest management, soil erosion, air and water quality,
cereal crop diseases, wheat root diseases, and biological control.

The new facility will be part of a new WSU Sciences and
Biotechnology complex on the Pullman campus.  Including the new ARS
facility, the Sciences and Biotechnology complex will comprise seven different
research facilities and laboratories.

The bill will now go to the full Senate for
consideration.