(The Center Square) – Fiscal aid for six buildings more than a half-century old on the campuses of North Carolina A&T and N.C. State would be prioritized through the Research Facilities Act in proposed congressional Farm Bill packages.
Agriculture in the state, the No. 1 industry with impact of more than $111 billion annually, is vitally connected to research at both land-grant universities. In a seven-signature letter dated Wednesday led by U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross and U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina’s congressional delegation requests of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture and U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry mandatory funding for the “high-need, high-impact program” to be included in any Farm Bill that advances.
Both chambers have proposals, and each includes the pivotal research act.
“Both N.C. State and N.C. A&T require urgent upgrades to numerous agricultural and natural resources facilities on their campuses, including six of the core agriculture research and teaching laboratory spaces: Gardner, Kilgore and Bostian at N.C. State; and Carver, Benbow and Webb at N.C. A&T,” the letter reads in part. “These agricultural research and teaching facilities are all more than 50 years old and are among the oldest buildings used for research and teaching labs on campus.”
Modern research utilities and spaces are lacking, the congressional delegation says. Deferred maintenance is also an issue for “a high percentage of off-campus research facilities and buildings needed for field research studies,” the letter adds.
The senators and representatives say nationwide there is $11.5 billion in “mounting maintenance backlog” at campus research facilities the Research Facilities Act would help address.
“Simply put,” the letter reads in summary, “robust investment in the bipartisan Research Facilities Act is an investment in the future of agriculture in America.”
Ross, a Democrat, and Tillis, a Republican, are joined on the letter by Republican Sen. Ted Budd, Democratic Reps. Kathy Manning, Wiley Nickel and Valerie Foushee, and Republican Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy.