NBAF in Kansas supporter:
While many people may take the quality and security of our nation’s food supply for granted, we don’t in Kansas. For many decades, we have worked day in and day out to make our agriculture the best in the world — and to keep our families’ dinner tables safe.
In part because of this deep agricultural heritage and expertise, the federal government chose Kansas on the merits in 2009 as the best home in America for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF). When complete, this research center will serve as the world’s premier science lab for developing vaccines and countermeasures for diseases that threaten livestock and other animals.
Agricultural and bioterrorism experts consider this research a critical national priority, and it is a mission to which Kansas is committed to its core. Accordingly, we are working very closely with the federal government on the NBAF and many other research efforts to protect the food supply.
Food safety is a challenge we cannot ignore. Not only does our very well-being depend on it, the economic importance of agriculture cannot be underestimated. The negative impact of a food-borne disease outbreak for which we are not prepared would be severe and deeply harmful to the economy.
Conversely, as we work to maintain the unmatched quality of American agriculture, we can continue to expand the domestic and international market for food from our farms and fields. This is an essential component of our state’s road map to economic growth.
Thankfully, with the concentration of know-how and infrastructure found in Kansas, the NBAF’s research is sure to be accelerated, and it will be done in the safest, most modern facility ever built to protect the food supply and agricultural economy. This is a mission our nation must support without delay.
Sincerely,Gov. Sam Brownback