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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract/Grant No. 43-3AEL-7-80055 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Suggested citation: National Research Council, 2001. Publicly Funded Agricultural Research and the Changing Structure of U.S. Agriculture. Committee to Review the Role of Publicly Funded Agricultural Research on the Structure of U.S. Agriculture (Washington, DC: National Academy Press).
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
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National Academy of Engineering
Institute of Medicine
National Research Council
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M.Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
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COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE ROLE OF PUBLICLY FUNDED AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH ON THE STRUCTURE OF U.S. AGRICULTURE
ANTHONY S.EARL, Chair,
Quarles & Brady LLP, Madison, Wisconsin
MICHAEL BOEHLJE,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
R.DEAN BOYD,
Pig Improvement Company, Franklin, Kentucky
FREDERICK H.BUTTEL,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
ARNOLD DENTON* (retired),
Campbell Soup Company, Sacramento, California
ESSEX E.FINNEY† (retired),
Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland
CORNELIA BUTLER FLORA,
Iowa State University, Ames
PETER J.GOLDMARK,
DJR Research, Okanogan, Washington
FREDERICK KIRSCHENMANN,
Iowa State University, Ames
DAVID ZILBERMAN,
University of California, Berkeley
Staff
CLARA COHEN, Study Director (since November 2000)
LEE PAULSON, Study Director (from August 1999 to November 2000)
MARY JANE LETAW, Study Director (from August 1997 to September 1999)
LUCYNA KURTYKA, Program Officer (from August 1999 to July 2000)
ANNE H.KELLY, Editor
KAREN L.IMHOF, Project Assistant
MICHAEL R.KISIELEWSKI, Project Assistant
Consultant
FRED C.WHITE,
University of Georgia, Athens
BOARD ON AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
HARLEY W.MOON, Chair,
Iowa State University, Ames
CORNELIA B.FLORA,
Iowa State University, Ames
ROBERT B.FRIDLEY,
University of California, Davis
BARBARA GLENN,
Federation of Animal Science Societies, Bethesda, Maryland
W.R.GOMES,
University of California, Oakland
LINDA GOLODNER,
National Consumers League, Washington, D.C.
PERRY R.HAGENSTEIN,
Institute for Forest Analysis, Planning, and Policy, Wayland, Massachusetts
GEORGE R.HALLBERG,
The Cadmus Group, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
CALESTOUS JUMA,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
GILBERT A.LEVEILLE,
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Denville, New Jersey
WHITNEY MACMILLAN,
Cargill, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota (retired)
TERRY L.MEDLEY,
DuPont BioSolutions Enterprise, Wilmington, Delaware
WILLIAM L.OGREN,
U.S. Department of Agriculture (retired)
ALICE PELL,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
NANCY J.RACHMAN,
Novigen Sciences, Inc., Washington, D.C.
G.EDWARD SCHUH,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
BRIAN STASKAWICZ,
University of California, Berkeley
JOHN W.SUTTIE,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
JAMES TUMLINSON,
Agriculture Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gainesville, Florida
JAMES J.ZUICHES,
Washington State University, Pullman
Staff
WARREN MUIR, Executive Director
CHARLOTTE KIRK BAER, Director
JULIE ANDREWS, Senior Project Assistant
Preface
The food and agricultural economy is highly concentrated today. Economic concentration characterizes food distribution and processing, agricultural inputs, and, increasingly, primary production and commercial farming. Six million farms produced the nation’s food during World War II. Today, 90 percent of all farm output comes from fewer than a million farms. This trend is unlikely to be reversed, but it nonetheless troubles U.S. society, which values the concept of the family farm, as farm legislation consistently mentions the family farm as part of its justification and goals.
Vertical integration and contracting increasingly characterize the U.S. food and agricultural system. Vertically integrated farming, processing, and marketing activities often are components of a single corporate entity. Subcontractors might manage a crop or livestock operation while livestock and other assets are owned and much of the decision making is controlled by the farm, which acts as integrator.
In contrast to vertical integration and contracting, but also in response to highly differentiated consumer demands, is the rise in some regions of a segment of farmers engaged in production for niche markets. Niche marketers produce specialty crops or use alternative management practices and typically are independent, small-scale producers. They often market directly to small grocers, specialized outlets, or urban farmers’ markets.
The changing food and agricultural system poses major challenges for the public sector’s food and agricultural research and educational system. One major
challenge is the complexity associated with meeting the research, extension, and education needs of agricultural producers. A concern expressed by Congress and other observers is the putative role of publicly funded agricultural research in developing technologies that have been or will be biased toward changes in farm size and other characteristics of the structure of agriculture.
In response to these concerns, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) asked the National Research Council (NRC) to review the relationship between publicly funded research and the evolving structure of agriculture.
The NRC convened a study panel of experts chosen for their knowledge of agricultural policy issues, farm and agribusiness management and finance, rural sociology, agricultural economics, and the land grant system. The committee had the following charges:
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Assess the role of public-sector research on changes in farm size and numbers, with particular emphasis on very-large-scale operations.
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Review relevant literature, including pertinent rural development literature, on the role of research and the development of new technology in promoting structural change in farming, evaluating theoretical and empirical evidence.
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Consider whether public-sector research has influenced the size of farm operations and, if so, by what means.
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Provide recommendations for future research and extension policies, giving consideration to improving access to the results of public-sector research that leads to new farm production practices and technology.
As part of its information-gathering activities, the committee held public workshops to elicit the perspective of producers, particularly those who are often described as underserved by the current public research agenda, and other experts on the structure of agriculture. The committee reviewed a wide array of background material, including long-term trends in public and private agricultural research, USDA budgets, literature on economic and sociologic research, literature on adoption and diffusion, and on the relationship among public research, farm size, and structural characteristics. The committee also considered reports on minority and women farmers, the report of the USDA National Commission on Small Farms, and reports by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment on the structure of agriculture.
This report analyzes the implications of public-sector research, technology adoption, technology transfer, and distribution of public-sector research investments for the structure of agriculture. The report also frames public-sector research and development in the context of other drivers of structural change in agriculture, including market forces, public policy, and the changing role of knowledge and information. The study committee offers recommendations for changes in the public sector’s research approach and priority-setting process and for strengthening research programs devoted to analysis of structural change, its
causes, and its implications. The study committee hopes that Congress and the Executive Branch will use these recommendations ultimately to benefit a broad diversity of agricultural constituents.
Anthony S.Earl, Chair
Committee to Review the Role of Publicly Funded Agricultural Research on the Structure of U.S. Agriculture
Acknowledgments
Many individuals generously contributed their time, advice, data, and other input during the study process. The committee gives special thanks to those who provided input at its public workshops:
GLENN ANDERSON, Organic Farms
ROBERT EVENSON, Yale University
GAIL FEENSTRA, University of California, Davis
ROGER GERRITS, (formerly) Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
ROBERT GOODMAN, University of Wisconsin, Madison
CHARLES HASSEBROOK, Center for Rural Affairs
JAY HARMON, Iowa State University
DOUGLAS JACKSON-SMITH, Utah State University
DESMOND JOLLEY, University of California, Davis
MARLYN JORGENSEN, Jorg-Anna Farms, Iowa
NOEL KEEN, University of California, Riverside
EDWARD KNIPLING, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
MARGARET KROME, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
MICHELLE MASCARENHAS, Occidental College
DANIEL MOUNTJOY, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
TERRY NIPP, AESOP Enterprises, Ltd.
KEN OLSON, American Farm Bureau Federation
CALVIN QUALSET, University of California, Davis
SARAH J.ROCKEY, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
JAMES VAN DER POL, Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
MICHAEL WEHLER, Upland Prairie Farms, Wisconsin
JAMES ZUICHES, Washington State University
The following are also acknowledged for assisting the National Research Council staff during preparation of the report by providing information and statistics: George Cooper, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Robert Hoppe, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Charles Krueger, Pennylvania State University; Richard Pirog, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture; Deborah Sheely, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Frank Shelton, National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Barbara Tidwell, National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Luther Tweeten, Oklahoma State University; and Dennis Unglesbee, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The committee is extremely grateful to the staff members of the National Research Council Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources (BANR) for their efforts throughout the study process and the preparation of this report. The committee also would like to acknowledge Fred C.White for technical assistance, Anne H. (Kate) Kelly for her editorial assistance, and Michael Kisielewski for his efforts in preparing the report. The committee wishes to extend special thanks to Clara Cohen, Study Director since November, 2000, for her dedicated efforts in shepherding the completion of the report.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
MAGGIE ADAMEK, Vision for Change, University of Minnesota
JANET BOKEMEIER, Michigan State University
RUSSELL CROSS, Future Beef
WALLACE HARDIE, Fairmount, North Dakota
JAY HARMON, Iowa State University
CHARLES HASSEBROOK, Center for Rural Affairs
WALLACE HUFFMAN, Iowa State University
D.GALE JOHNSON, University of Chicago
NEAL VAN ALFEN, University of California, Davis
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by James Cook, Washington State University, and W.R.Gomes, University of California, Oakland. Appointed by the National Research Council, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
Tables, Figures, and Boxes
Tables
3–1 |
Contact with Extension by Herd Size, |
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4–1 |
Historic Allocation of Public Research Funds by Commodity, |
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4–2 |
Historic Allocation of Public Research Funds by Goal, |
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4–3 |
Allocation of Public Agricultural Research Funds, 1999, |
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4–4 |
Selected Alternative Agricultural Technologies: Current USDA-Funded Projects and Total Patents Granted, 1975–1998, by Type of Organization, |
Figures
1–1 |
Number of Farms and Acres Per Farm, 1850–1997, |
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1–2 |
Smallest Percentage of U.S. Farms Accounting for Half of the Nation’s Agricultural Sales, Selected Years from 1900–1997, |
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1–3 |
Share of Hog Production by Type of Vertical Coordination, 1970–1999, |
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3–1 |
Technology Adoption by Dairy Herd Size, 1999, |
Boxes
1–1 |
Public Sources of Funding for Agricultural Research, |
3–1 |
Responding to Asian Growers in California, |
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3–2 |
State Extension Partners are Linking to Other Federal Agencies on a Broad Array of Problems, |
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3–3 |
Stakeholder Participation and SARE, |
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3–4 |
Fax-Based, Satellite Information Request System: Reaching Small and Part-Time Farmers, |
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4–1 |
Public-Sector Responses to Structural Issues, |
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4–2 |
Research Funding and Structural Change, |