KBA joins USDA’s network for research, development

Yesterday, exciting news was announced about the ongoing process to establish the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas. Joining the USDA’s network is just one of many ways that the NBAF can have an immediate impact on protecting our nation’s food supply and agricultural economy.

Check out the highlights from the announcement:
“Kansas entrepreneurs, startups, researchers and various commercial enterprises will be able to tap into the world’s most prolific agricultural research operation for knowledge, under a partnership announced Monday with the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

“The authority is among nine partners in the new Agriculture Technology Intermediary Partnership (ATIP), a USDA network designed to connect the department’s $2 billion of annual research and development with others who can use the information to create commercial products designed to help the nation’s food supply and more.

“We are an agricultural state,” said Tom Thornton, president of the bioscience authority, during a break in the authority’s annual meeting today in Overland Park. “It makes sense for us to partner.”

“The connection will help Kansas build upon its existing bioscience strengths, Thornton said: animal science, bioenergy and plant science.

“The state already is preparing to welcome construction of the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, a $650 million project to accommodate research designed to protect the nation’s food supply. Work is expected to begin next year in Manhattan, home to Kansas State University and two other federal labs that already have agreed to locate at Kansas State, following the NBAF decision.

“The 470 staffers at NBAF — the bulk of them researchers and other scientists — will be part of the ATIP networks, just as such scientists are who now work at the existing NBAF lab in Plum Island, N.Y. Plans call for that lab to be phased out.

“Adding the authority to the network will help Kansas get a head start on NBAF’s important work and promising economic benefits, Thornton said, even before NBAF construction begins …

“…The key will be to continue to focus on the core areas of bioscience that Kansas already thrives within, he said. Among them: animal health, bioenergy and drug delivery.”

You can read the whole article in the Lawrence Journal World.