![Image: Watercolor rendering of the new U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural Research Center in Maricopa, Arizona. Link to larger image.](/peth04/20041031231525im_/http://ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2004/040220.Maricopa.inline.jpg)
Watercolor rendering of the new U.S. Arid-Land
Agricultural Research Center in Maricopa, Arizona. Click the image to
see a larger version.
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Ground Broken for U.S. Arid-Land
Agricultural Research Center By
David Elstein February 20, 2004
MARICOPA, Ariz., Feb. 20Federal officials broke
ground today outside Phoenix for a new $28 million U.S. Arid-Land Agricultural
Research Center. Upon completion in 2006, it will house 30 scientists plus
support staff for the Agricultural Research
Service, chief scientific research agency of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. The ARS
facility will be co-located with the University of Arizona's Maricopa
Agricultural Center.
Participants at today's event included ARS officials from
Arizona and California. "When completed, this new center will be one of the
premier agricultural research centers in the world dealing with issues of arid
and semiarid lands," said Antoinette A. Betschart, director for ARS' Pacific
West Area.
The new facility will combine in one center ARS' U.S.
Water Conservation Research
Laboratory and Western Cotton
Research Laboratory, both currently located in Phoenix.
Scientists at ARS' U.S. Water Conservation Lab conduct research
on how crops will perform in the future as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels
increase. They were among the first to show that elevated atmospheric carbon
dioxide increases yields of field crops. They have also made significant
advancements in terms of water measurement methods, automation of irrigation
canal systems and on-farm water management technologies.
Researchers at ARS' Western Cotton Research Laboratory focus on
developing ways to help farmers grow cotton more efficiently and minimize
damage from diseases and pests. For more than 30 years, this laboratory has
been a leader in development of integrated management techniques to control the
pink bollworm, one of the world's most devastating cotton pests. Research
findings from the lab have played a key role in the 90 percent reduction in
pesticides used against this pest.
Completion of the new facility will enable ARS researchers to
work more closely with the Maricopa
Agricultural Center's researchers and extension faculty. |