It is located in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland,[4] with sections within the Beltsville census-designated place.

[5][6] The BARC is named for Henry A. Wallace, former United States vice president and secretary of agriculture.

BARC houses the Abraham Lincoln Building of the National Agricultural Library.

Among its research programs are Air Quality; Animal Health; Crop Production; Crop Protection and Quarantine; Food Animal Production; Food Safety; Global Change; Human Nutrition; Integrated Farming Systems; Manure and Byproduct Utilization; Methyl Bromide Alternatives; Plant Biological and Molecular Processes; Plant Diseases; Plant Genetic Resources, Genomics, and Genetic Improvement; Quality and Utilization of Agricultural Products; Rangeland, Pasture, and Forages; Soil Resource Management; Veterinary, Medical, and Urban Entomology; and Water Quality and Management.

[7] The center is also referenced in local folklore as the creation place of the Goatman, claiming that Goatman was once a scientist who worked at the center before an experiment on goats backfired and mutated the scientist into a half man, half goat creature who aggressively attacks cars in the vicinity of Beltsville.