ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES ON THE HORIZON: Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA chief scientist and under secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, was confident the new research facility would bring an endless number of possibilities to the field of agricultural research.

TIFTON — With the first shovel of dirt scooped and tossed, development on a new facility in Tifton for agricultural research advancements officially began in February.

State officials, representatives of the national Department of Agriculture, and staff of the University of Georgia Tifton Campus gathered in Centennial Gardens the morning of Feb. 21 to commemorate the groundbreaking of the USDA-ARS Tifton Research Facility, an institute planned to be constructed on the university grounds.

A collaborative project between the Department of Agriculture and UGA, the facility will serve as a new base of operations for USDA staff, staff from the Agricultural Research Service’s Southeast Watershed Research Unit and Crop Genetics and Breeding Research Unit, and university researchers and staff.

Officials stated that these researchers would work to pursue breakthroughs and advancements in the agricultural field, particularly focusing on finding water resources for agriculture in the southern coastal plain, managing insect pests and pollinators, and developing resilient and sustainable crop systems for the southeastern United States.

Various state and national officials, including congressmen Austin Scott and Sanford Bishop and representatives of the offices of Sen. Raphael Warnock, Sen. Jon Ossoff, and Gov. Brian Kemp, were in attendance of the groundbreaking, eager to celebrate the positive change the new institution would bring to the state’s agriculture and beyond.

During the ceremony, Michael Toews, UGA Tifton Campus assistant dean, provided attendees with a history of the campus, noting that from its humble beginnings as an agricultural research station to its current standing as a university, the drive to pursue innovation has persisted, with the new research facility serving as confirmation that drive will continue to persist in the agricultural fields for years to come.

“The nature of agricultural research has changed,” Toews said. “But our mission to train the next generation of scientists and to research and extend cutting-edge research to Georgia and southeastern stakeholders remains as strong today as our founding over 100 years ago.”

Scott and Bishop were proud to see the facility be brought to what they saw as a cornerstone of the state and to an extension country’s agriculture industry, and were baffled that they had not seen the Tift area be given the recognition it deserved.

Both congressman asserted that they would continue working to ensure their colleagues were made aware of how important facilities such as the one they were commemorating were to the nation and that as a result, they would continue to receive the funding they needed to excel.

Simon Liu, ARS administrator, thanked Scott and Bishop for their support of the project, and planned to continue expanding ARS research to better serve state and nationwide farmers, and ranchers as the new research facility would certainly be able to.

“This groundbreaking would not be possible without your leadership and your support,” Liu said. “We at ARS are so grateful for your support, so that we can better our research and service to the people of Georgia.”

Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA chief scientist, closed out the ceremony, confident that the new facility would not only serve as a testament to the partnership between the USDA and UGA, but would bring infinite possibilities to the field of agriculture. She stressed the need for institutions like UGA to encourage and foster a new generation of farmers, and hoped the Tifton research facility would serve as a beacon for aspiring farmers and agricultural researchers from all across the nation to join and bolster the industry.

The speakers then came together for the official groundbreaking, plunging their shovels into the pile of dirt before them and tossing a scoop back onto the pile to signify the beginning of the facility’s construction. Patrons were also invited to take part in the groundbreaking themselves.

Construction on the facility is expected to conclude in January 2026.