National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to stand up the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas. State-of-the-Art The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to stand up the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas. This state-of-the-art facility is a national asset that will help protect the nation’s agriculture, farmers and citizens against the threat and potential impact of serious animal diseases. The DHS Science and Technology Directorate built the facility to standards that fulfill the mission needs of the USDA. DHS S&T reported construction was completed in May 2022 and contractor commissioning was completed in December 2022. In accordance with a 2019 memorandum of agreement between DHS and USDA, NBAF ownership and operation will transfer to USDA. NBAF will replace the 68-year-old Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) where USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) currently conduct foreign animal disease research, training and diagnostics. ARS and APHIS will transfer their research and diagnostic missions from PIADC to NBAF and will operate the facility jointly. Even after USDA takes ownership of the facility from DHS, it will still take at least a couple of years to transfer the full science mission from PIADC to NBAF. Protecting the Nation's Food Supply and Public Health Historically, the United States did not have a laboratory facility with maximum biocontainment (BSL-4) space to study high-consequence zoonotic diseases affecting large livestock and U.S. scientists had to rely on other countries’ facilities for that type of research. NBAF has biosafety level-2 and -3 laboratories and is the first facility in the United States with biosafety level-4, or BSL-4, containment capable of housing large livestock. NBAF’s BSL-4 containment laboratories require the highest level of safety protocols and equipment so scientists can safely study and diagnose a variety of high-consequence animal pathogens. NBAF also features a Biologics Development Module (BDM) for the pilot scale development of vaccines and other countermeasures, augmenting laboratory research and accelerating technology transfer to industry partners. NBAF’s location in Manhattan, Kansas, places it within the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, the largest concentration of animal health companies in the world. NBAF is constructed and operated on a secure federally-owned site, adjacent to Kansas State University’s Biosecurity Research Institute and the Kansas Department of Agriculture.