Members of Illinois’ congressional delegation called on the Trump administration on Monday to strike a proposal to close the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research (NCAUR) from its budget plan for the next fiscal year.
U.S. Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Cheri Bustos (D-IL) led a letter to President Donald Trump on the issue. Peter Roskam, Randy Hultgren and Adam Kinzinger were among the Illinois Republicans who advocated for NCAUR, which opened in Peoria, Illinois, in 1940.
Over its 80-year history, NCAUR has been responsible for research breakthroughs like the mass production of penicillin and the discovery of a thickening agent used in consumer products called Xanthan gum. Today, the lab’s 200 employees focus on research to advance biofuels, to reduce or eliminate chemical pesticides, and to use feedstock for industrial and consumer products.
“For nearly 80 years, NCAUR has served a vital role in the USDA’s research efforts to create new industrial and food products from our agriculture commodities and develop new technologies to improve environmental quality,” the letter states. “The administration’s proposal to close NCAUR would hurt the nation’s capacity to innovate, reduce our competitive edge in the global agricultural marketplace, cut jobs, and hurt farmers and rural America.”
NCAUR was one of 17 USDA Agriculture Research Services (ARS) laboratories that the Trump administration proposed closing in its proposed fiscal year 2018 budget. The lawmakers wrote that closing NCAUR would not only impact the local economy, it would also have “devastating effects on agriculture research efforts and our modern farm economy throughout the economy.”