(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that she has added $1.6 Million to an annual Senate spending bill to fund the construction of an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) facility on the campus of Washington State University. The funding was included in the Senate Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations bill. Senator Murray is a member of the Appropriations Committee.
The ARS is the main research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with about 100 ARS facilities nationwide. Currently, ARS scientists in the Pullman area are housed in a facility that is crowded and unable to support the technical needs of research laboratories.
"It’s time to give ARS scientists a facility that will allow their research efforts to grow and enable our state’s farmers to reap greater benefits from their work," said Senator Murray. "A brand new ARS facility at WSU will help keep our state’s agricultural economy competitive and will ensure that we continue to produce high-quality, safe food products."
"I am very appreciative of Senator Murray’s significant efforts to provide federal funding for the USDA Agricultural Research Service building to be located on the Pullman campus of WSU," said Washington State University President Elson Floyd. "Her efforts are instrumental in the success of continuing and growing the long-standing WSU-ARS research collaboration that advances our state and national agricultural industry."
ARS areas of research in Pullman are 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.
"I am particularly excited about how this facility will support the needs of a wide variety of farmers in our state," added Murray.
The current facility that houses ARS scientists will be demolished in the process of building the new ARS facility which will be part of the new WSU Sciences/Biotechnology complex on the Pullman campus. The WSU Sciences/Biotechnology complex will be made up of seven research facilities/laboratories.
The ARS facility will strengthen the federal and state partnership in plant sciences and contribute to improvements in laboratories and research equipment.
The bill that includes the ARS facility funding passed the full Appropriations Committee today and will now move to the full Senate for consideration.
English 
Spanish