Celia Jiménez here, thinking about the new United States Department of Agriculture facility in Salinas. The groundbreaking ceremony happened in 2020; tomorrow, a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrates that the place is up and running.
The new Agricultural Research Service Crop Improvement and Protection Research Laboratory facility is in the same place as the previous USDA-ARS hub, and its research will continue to contribute to Monterey County's largest industry: agriculture.
But it will be bigger—117,000 square feet—newer, and feature state-of-the art facilities. “We will be able to vastly advance our research on the sustainable production of vegetable and fruit crops,” said Chavonda Jacobs-Young, ARS administrator. The Salinas center is also expected to increase collaboration with US Davis Researchers.
The new lab is named after retired U.S. representative Sam Farr, who represented the region in Congress for 23 years, until he retired in 2016.
When Farr was first elected to Congress, one of the first things he did was visit the federal facilities in his district. He spoke with James McCreight, a USDA researcher. McCreight told Farr that attracting ag researchers to the area was challenging, nor were they able to bring in top-notch equipment because of the outdated facilities.
That spurred Farr to work on securing funds for this new facility, an effort he spent over a decade on. One issue, he says, was that the Agriculture Appropriations Committee’s capital outlay account was treated as a wishlist instead of a merit-based list like the Department of Defense. The committee was aware of Salinas’ need, but the money was used for other projects that got priority, again and again.
“Change the way you do your capital outlay projects,” Farr remembers demanding—and eventually, it worked.
“It's going to really open up opportunities to draw the top scientists in the world,” Farr says of the new center. “We need to have cutting-edge research to make sure not only that the plants can meet changes [induced] by climate change, but that the viruses and pests can be discovered and treated.”
Historically, Monterey County’s agricultural production has been on the national and international stage. It had the largest sugar beet factory in the world, it was the largest exporter of wheat, and now the Salinas Valley is known as the Salad Bowl of the World. Farr has long thought the county deserved a state-of-the-art facility to advance research for the industry, and now it will have one.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony takes place tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 3 at 10am at 1636 E. Alisal St. in Salinas. If you want to attend, RSVP; Farr will be there.
Last year when I was participating in the AgKnowledge program organized by the Grower-Shipper Foundation, we visited the USDA’s research building, but it was still under construction. Now the paint is dry and it’s time to get to work on anticipating and solving problems in the industry on issues from irrigation to pest management to productivity. In the years to come, all of us can expect to taste the fruits of their labor.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.