By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced $176 million has been allotted to help support ag research centers under control of the USDA, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Funding has been extended to more than three dozen research centers in 29 states, including Peoria’s National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR, $40.1 million) in Illinois, West Lafayette’s National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory ($775,000) at Purdue University and East Lansing’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory ($430,000) in Michigan.

Vilsack stated the funding would “ensure that our labs can carry out the critical research that enables the U.S. to have the safest, least expensive food supply in the world.”

Sandy Miller Hays, a spokesperson for the ARS, explained the funding will help improve operations and maintenance at some of the aging facilities.

“There seems to be a lot of confusion about this money,” Hays said. “This funding is not for research, and it is not going to fund new construction. All of the money will be used for repair and maintenance at our laboratories.”

In years past the USDA and ARS were appropriated only small amounts each year by Congress for structure maintenance and repair as part of their budget, according to Hays. “When you have as many facilities as we do – 100 across the country – you need a lot of money to keep up (with maintenance),” she said. “We have had very little money over the years to spend on things like updating electrical systems, repairing plumbing and HVAC – just the routine, nuts-and-bolts building maintenance type stuff.”

Peoria’s NCAUR was constructed between 1938-1940 and opened as the Northern Regional Laboratory on Dec. 16, 1940. Congress appropriated $1 million to build and equip the lab and a tract of land was purchased for $1 from Bradley Polytechnic Institute for the facility.

A phone call to NCAUR seeking comment on how the $40.1 million would be used was deferred to the ARS.

However, a press release issued by the ARS and USDA stated the funding allotted for the lab would “address critical deferred maintenance of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems to enable the lab to continue to develop new products.”

NCAUR focuses on inventing new uses for agricultural crops and is at the forefront of pennycress research and development (see Farm World’s June 24 issue).

In addition, NCAUR has developed a series of new food products that help expand markets for U.S. cereal crops and has developed a vegetable oil-based elevator hydraulic fluid currently in use at the Statue of Liberty, among other accomplishments.

The USDA extolled the funding in a press release, saying the $176 million will help revitalize local economies by creating jobs and supporting local businesses that supply needed construction products and services.

“We’ll be hiring an awfully lot of contractors, plumbers, electricians and others to do this work,” said Hays. “It will create a lot of jobs.”