Greenhouse Rebuilding Groundbreaking Ceremony
January 24, 2005
The Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) celebrated the groundbreaking for the rebuilding of the Plant Sciences Institute greenhouses -a complex that will accommodate research on many important US agricultural crops. It will also house the exotic citrus disease research and serve as a support facility for the newly completed, state-of-the-art containment greenhouse facility, already on site.
On September 24, 2001, BARC sustained a direct hit from a Force 3 tornado. Incredibly, no one was hurt though damage was extensive. The greenhouses were particularly susceptible to damage from the strength of the winds and flying debris. Approximately one-half of the greenhouse structures at BARC were damaged or destroyed by the tornado.
Eighteen laboratories across BARC depend on greenhouse facilities to carry out their research. This groundbreaking for the new complex represents the first step towards physically restoring this valuable and much-needed resource to support the scientists and the research that is carried out at BARC.
Dignitaries speaking at the ceremony and participating in the groundbreaking included (left to right):
Rodney J. Brown, Deputy Under Secretary, Research, Education, and Economics; Edward B. Knipling, Administrator, Agricultural Research Service; Phyllis E. Johnson, Director, Beltsville Area; Steny H. Hoyer, Representative, 5th District, Maryland; Jeanie Laserov (not visible), Field Representative for U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes and Wanda W. Collins, Director, Plant Sciences Institue
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