Rep. Flood pushes for remaining funding to complete ARS precision agriculture center at UNL

Representative Flood told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture that the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Center for Resilient and Regenerative Precision Agriculture at the University of Nebraska'Lincoln needs additional congressional construction funding in fiscal year 2026 to complete a multi-phase project.

Flood said the ARS co-located facility and an adjacent public-private AgTech accelerator will anchor a national network of ARS and land-grant university partners focused on precision agriculture, water, climate resilience and related research. He thanked the subcommittee for prior appropriations support and said the project is now at roughly $60 million in federal funding toward a second-phase target of $120 million in construction funds.

"I think we are technically at $60,000,000 now, and we're on our way to $120,000,000," Flood said. He told the panel the first phase included roughly 15,000 square feet of greenhouse space and about 10,000 square feet of head-house space linked to an existing Greenhouse Innovation Center; the second phase would construct a 120,000-square-foot, four-story laboratory and office building on Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln.

Flood outlined prior appropriations credited toward the project: planning and design funding in FY21, $20,000,000 for construction in FY22, and $25,000,000 in FY24; he said an additional $16,000,000 was included for FY25 but was deferred by continuing resolutions. Flood said the university and the state have cost-shared roughly $30,000,000.

Flood cited a January 2024 Government Accountability Office report showing Nebraska near the top in adoption of precision-ag practices and argued the facility will support research and commercialization that benefit Nebraska producers and the national agriculture sector.

Ranking Member Bishop and other members expressed support and said they hoped the funding request would survive budget reconciliations and be incorporated into final FY26 appropriations. No formal vote or commitment was taken at the hearing.