The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Innovation Campus has received $37 million more in federal funds for a new partnership facility with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).
The National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture will focus on precision agriculture technology, sustainable production and climate resiliency. Architecture firm HDR said it will include a four-story lab with 120,000 total square feet and double the number of USDA-ARS scientists in Lincoln.
U.S. Sen Deb Fischer said the money for the facility is “great news” for UNL and the USDA.
“Over the years, I have worked hard to secure over $70 million in federal investments for this project,” Fischer wrote in a Wednesday statement. “I thank Secretary Brooke Rollins and Undersecretary Scott Hutchins for recognizing the importance of funding this facility. I look forward to continuing to work to get this project fully finished.”
The National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture has been under construction in Lincoln since 2024. In the groundbreaking announcement, Innovation Campus leaders said the laboratory would cost $160 million total.
This $37 million will come from the closure of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Maryland – just outside of the nation’s capitol.
Between Lincoln and two more new labs in Lexington, Kentucky and Ames, Iowa, the USDA is reappropriating nearly $76 million in funds from BARC.
In July 2025, USDA announced it would close BARC under an “organizational restructuring” to find cost savings within the department.
BARC is the flagship USDA research facility. On its over 6,500-acre campus, BARC houses research experts covering specialties from honeybee disease to food pathogens.
At the time of the announcement, the USDA said no more than 2,000 of the 4,600 employees working at BARC would stay in the D.C. area. Employees were offered relocation agreements over the summer.
Aside from the Innovation Campus funding, Nebraska could potentially benefit from the closure – if D.C. employees accept their relocation agreements. The U.S. Meat and Animal Research Center in Clay Center is on the list of labs that could receive researchers from BARC.
It is unclear how many researchers would be transferred, and few details have been released about how staff will be distributed across the country.
Ag leaders have warned the BARC closure could impact the longevity of American ag research. In a public comment period, over 90% of respondents opposed the restructuring.
The USDA is targeting an end-of-September closure date for the facility, though pending litigation may delay the final closure of BARC.
University of Nebraska leaders said in statement Thursday that they were grateful for the opportunity to continue working with the USDA and thanked state and federal officials for securing funding.
“We are incredibly proud of Nebraska’s role in innovating the technologies, crop varieties, livestock systems and management practices that drive our nation’s agriculture industry and have contributed to our state’s status as one of the largest ag economies in the nation," the statement read. "The [Nebraska USDA-ARS facility] is critical to continuing that momentum and creating the tools that will drive the next generation of American agriculture, while conserving our natural resources and building on our long-standing relationship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture."