A budget bill that would eliminate a longtime research center at Iowa State University is headed to Gov. Terry Branstad.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved an agriculture-related budget bill this week that eliminates the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture by July 1. Remaining activities within the 30-year-old center would be administered by the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The bill redirects money for the Leopold Center — about $1.5 million — to the Nutrient Research Center at ISU, which studies the removal of nutrients in the water. A separate budget bill that cuts nearly $400,000 for the Leopold Center is also headed to governor.