New $65.9M UK lab will help Central Kentucky be ‘go-to hub’ for agriculture research, leaders say

Sen. Mitch McConnell and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials gathered at the University of Kentucky Tuesday to break ground on a new agriculture research building.

The new $65.9 million Forage Animal Production Lab will include more than 52,000 square feet of space for offices, laboratories, collaboration space and greenhouses. The research conducted there will focus on improving the productivity, sustainability and competitiveness of farms that raise beef cattle, horses, sheep and goats, especially for small- and medium-sized farms.

The new building, called the Forage-Animal Production Research Unit, will include design upgrades and expand the research capacity for agriculture in Kentucky, according to UK. The building is scheduled to be complete in 2026, and is funded by federal money.

“Today’s groundbreaking for the Forage Animal Production Lab speaks to the heart of what a land-grant institution, like ours, is so distinctively positioned to do: to take basic scientific discovery and apply that knowledge to applications that can be transferred directly to producers,” said UK President Eli Capilouto.

The building will be staffed by six scientists from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Services and seven UK researchers, as well as laboratory technicians and administrative employees. Capilouto praised McConnell for his role in helping to secure the federal funding for the building.

“This is a big moment, not just for UK but for the entire Commonwealth,” McConnell said. “Central Kentucky is well on the way to becoming the go-to hub for high-tech, advanced agricultural research. Its special focus on the cattle and equine industries in particular will help keep Kentucky’s multi-billion dollar agriculture industry at the forefront of our nation.”

The United States is the largest producer of beef in the world, and Kentucky is the eighth-largest in the nation, according to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. The Kentucky beef industry produced more than $1 billion of beef in 2022. There are approximately 73,500 total farms in Kentucky, more than half of which are beef cattle producers.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the lab will allow important collaboration to happen between scientists, and produce research that will have widespread impact on agriculture.

“This lab is a testimony to collaboration, it’s a testimony to science, but it’s also a commitment to those who produce and those who farm,” Vilsack said. “We’re going to continue as a society to support them and be with them as they figure out creative and new ways to be sustainable.”