Ground has finally been broken on the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility being built in Manhattan.

Members of the Kansas Congressional Delegation along with Governor Sam Brownback, KSU President Kirk Schulz, Manhattan Mayor Karen McCulloh, Under Secretary of Science and Technology Directorate U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday.

“This just isn’t building a building, or a lab. This isn’t just critical research. This lady’s and gentleman is opportunity and it is our opportunity,” said Senator Roberts. “This lab is for Kansas, we fought for it, and we earned it on our merits. This lab is the realization of all that we hope for Kansas, opportunity, fulfillment, and preservation of our beloved way of life for our children and our grandchildren.”

The lab will be the first of it’s kind in the United States and will allow researchers to study zoonotic diseases that affect livestock and other large animals.

When the lab is completed and operational by 2022 it is expected to employee about 400 people and generate about $3.5 billion into the Kansas economy within the first 20 years of it’s operation.