LINCOLN- The Appropriations Committee of the U.S. House has given its approval to an additional $20 million for construction of a new U.S. Department of Agriculture research center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The new recommended funding follows an earlier allocation of $11.2 million for planning and design of the multiyear project.

If full funding for a new federal ag research center ultimately is acquired, that would signal the end of a long quest that began more than a decade ago for a USDA presence at Nebraska Innovation Campus.

In 2010, then-Sen. Ben Nelson had championed the location of a $60 million USDA research center as a vital catalyst and anchor for the new UNL campus, but that effort collapsed when Congress eliminated the use of earmarks to fund projects.

The new USDA center at UNL would focus on "strategic research investments in areas such as agricultural innovation and precision agriculture," Rep. Jeff Fortenberry has said.

Fortenberry, Nebraska's 1st District Republican congressman, is the ranking member of the House appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, rural development and the Food and Drug Administration. He hailed elements of the ag-related funding proposal that provide "important support for our highly productive farmers and ranchers and those facing food insecurity in America and around the world."

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