Western Growers members are encouraged to support continued operation of the United States Department of Agriculture Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) and the Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory (EMFSL) located there. Proposed USDA closure of the facility, and the suggested research relocation plans, threaten real-world fresh produce research supporting food safety, pathogen detection, agricultural water, plant health and sustainability.
BARC researchers are critical to help develop practical food safety and sustainability solutions for issues including Salmonella, Cyclospora, environmental monitoring and agricultural risk mitigation that directly benefit specialty crop growers. Losing this interdisciplinary team would weaken national agricultural research capacity, threaten years of research and subject matter expertise and waste significant taxpayer investment in recently modernized facilities designed for real-world produce research.
It is critical that the industry makes our voices heard on the importance that this facility and group represent. Growers are encouraged to contact Congressional representatives and senators to show overwhelming need and support for maintaining EMFSL and BARC operations in Beltsville.