Buried in the USDA's proposed FY2027 budget is a table listing four Agricultural Research Service locations marked for closure and relocation, including the Urbana, Illinois, site that houses two critical collections. USDA proposes relocations of the National Soybean Germplasm Collection and the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center, moves that experts say would carry heavy costs and scientific risk. The proposal includes no explicit justification for the transfers in the budget document.
The National Soybean Germplasm Collection in Urbana is the country’s only public soybean seed bank and holds about 23,000 soybean accessions, representing nearly the full genetic diversity of the crop. Those accessions are a public resource distributed to universities, private seed developers and other researchers for breeding and disease-resistance work that supports on-farm productivity.
The Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center at Urbana contains roughly 100,000 maize stocks, many of them genetic mutants that underlie key corn traits used in research and product development. Many accessions were collected from diverse climates and locations and are stored under precise conditions until they can be grown out and replenished by trained ARS curators, a process that typically occurs about once every 10 years.
Relocation plan
Under the proposal, the soybean collection would move to Columbia, Missouri, and the maize stock center would be relocated to Ames, Iowa. Officials at those receiving locations would likely need to build or upgrade facilities to meet the collections' climate-control and security requirements, a taxpayer expense that could run into millions. A prior version of this relocation plan surfaced in an earlier budget cycle and required congressional approval then.
Urbana’s current facilities are fully operational and recently received a climate-controlled storage upgrade that nearly doubled capacity and is expected to remain serviceable for decades. Moving the collections risks months or years of downtime for researchers, possible damage to sensitive seed stocks during transition, and the loss of specialized institutional knowledge if staff do not relocate with the collections.
Industry reaction
Researchers and grower groups have warned that the collections are effectively irreplaceable. “It’s critically important to maintain this collection, because if it were lost, we would never be able to recover it,” said Brian Diers, soybean breeder and emeritus professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
State and national soybean and corn associations are preparing formal opposition. Bryan Severs, chairman of the Illinois Soybean Association, said moving the collection would “put years of research at risk and slow down the tools we need on our farms.” Brad Stotler, director of government affairs for the Illinois Corn Growers Association, noted the maize collection’s long history on the Illinois campus and urged continued investment to protect research collaboration between ARS and university scientists.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins discussed the proposed budget at a House subcommittee hearing on April 22. The House subcommittee markup began April 23 and continues April 28; a Senate markup schedule has not yet been announced. Stakeholders are urging producers to contact their congressional representatives and state soybean and corn associations to weigh in before lawmakers act.
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