An artist's rendering of the new Agricultural Research and Technology Center at the University of California, Davis. The U.S. Department of Agriculture began construction on the facility in late October. (Courtesy Burns and McDonnell)
An artist’s rendering of the new Agricultural Research and Technology Center at the University of California, Davis. The U.S. Department of Agriculture began construction on the facility in late October. (Courtesy Burns and McDonnell)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun construction on a new 59,000-square-foot Agricultural Research and Technology Center at the University of California, Davis.

The new facility will consolidate and modernize the department’s Agricultural Research Services presence currently scattered on the Davis campus, a USDA news release said.

Construction will cost an estimated $76 million with anticipated opening in November 2026, said a spokesman for the ARS.

The center, dubbed ARTC, will include laboratories, greenhouses and capacity for scientists exploring ways agriculture can adapt to climate change, water scarcity, emerging pests and increasing global demand, the release said.

The two-story ARTC will house four research units: crops pathology and genetics; invasive species and pollinator health; national tree fruit, nuts and grapes clonal germplasm repository; and sustainable water systems.

The Agricultural Research Service has collaborated with UC Davis departments since 1956, beginning with a single grape virus researcher, and the partnership has expanded to more than 30 scientists plus support staff across several university academic departments and extension specialists, the release said. The center will help that collaboration continue.

“This research will benefit growers, commodity groups, agricultural businesses, and U.S. consumers who rely on ARS to find solutions to agricultural and environmental problems,” said Dr. Amisha Poret-Peterson, acting research leader of the crops pathology and genetics unit. “It’s incredible to celebrate current and future cooperative research among ARS, groundwater sustainability agencies, UC Davis researchers, and stakeholders in diverse specialty realms such as tree nut, rice, and beekeeping industries.”