The Soybean Innovation Lab at the University of Champaign-Urbana in Illinois received its official notice of termination March 11 after a review of its work by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to laboratory director Peter Goldsmith.
The program will close on April 15, Goldsmith said.
The Soybean Innovation Lab’s research was focused on developing soybean varieties, and markets for American soybeans, in African countries. Its work was funded by the United States Agency for International Development. USAID’s programs were targeted by the incoming Trump administration for review and closure.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently announced on social media that 83% of USAID contracts have been canceled; the remaining 100 programs were transferred to the State Department.
Goldsmith originally announced the lab’s closure in April in February, when he first was notified of the DOGE review. There were 17 Innovation Labs hosted in 13 land grant universities that had, with partnerships, a presence in 29 states. The USAID used to publish requests for proposals, and universities competed for the grants for specified periods—five years in this case. The labs were part of USAID’s “Feed the Future” program. They focused on various crops or on different areas of food and ag policy.
David Tschirley, who heads a council of innovation labs, told High Plains Journal that the labs received a State Department Guidance form in the third week of February asking them to explain how their programs “make America stronger, safer and more prosperous.”
They were given 30 days to justify their programs and hope for the best. When the innovation labs received their initial DOGE notices, some interpreted the wording to mean they merely could suspend their programs while awaiting review, but Goldsmith concluded—correctly, as it turned out—that the program had to close by April.
USAID as originally funded by Congress was an office in the State Department, but President John F. Kennedy made it an independent agency by executive order. DOGE is a repurposing of the U.S. Digital Service, an office set up under President Barack Obama to supervise and coordinate technology of federal agencies. President Donald Trump gave it the task of seeking out waste and fraud across federal agencies.
David Murray can be reached at [email protected].
