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Executive Summary
Pages 1-15

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From page 1... ... There is concern that publicly funded agricultural research has influenced the development of technologies that have been or will be biased toward changes in fan size and industrialization of the farm sector. There is debate about whether publicly funded agricultural research is equally accessible to all users and whether it is targeted to the full range of user and citizens' groups. Read the entire page →
From page 2... ... 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. The committee analyzed publicly funded agricultural research documented in the Current Research Information Systems (CRIS) Read the entire page →
From page 3... ... The committee also considered state- and federally supported institutions, including land grant institutions, colleges of agriculture, agricultural experiment stations, the Cooperative Extension service, schools of forestry, historically African American land grant institutions, colleges of veterinary medicine, colleges of human sciences, Native American land grant institutions, and Hispanic-serving institutions. The committee relied heavily on data reported to the CRIS database by USDA intramural research agencies, state agricultural experiment stations, 1890 and 1862 land grant universities, state schools of forestry, schools of veterinary medicine, and USDA grant recipients. Read the entire page →
From page 4... ... However, an analysis of the relationship between privately funded agricultural research and the structure of agriculture is beyond the scope of this report. It is an important issue that should be the focal point of further analysis. Read the entire page →
From page 5... ... Very little empirical evidence exists on the effects of publicly funded agricultural research on structural variables. What little exists demonstrates that the amount of and rate of change in publicly financed agricultural research and development and education are correlated with increases in average farm size, with the number of very large farms (1,000+ acres) Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... Commodity payment policy, crop insurance policy, conservation policies, farm loan policies, federal income and estate tax law, and labor and environmental regulatory policies can have significant structural implications (Carmen, 1997; Durst and Monke, 2001; GAO, 2001; Goetz and Debrtin, in press; Lichtenberg et al., 1988; Sisson, 1982; USDA, 1998a; Williams-Derry and Cook, 2000; Zilberman, et al., 1991~. Knowledge and information are also becoming increasingly important drivers of control and structural change in the agricultural industry, and access to information and intellectual property rights are becoming sources of conflict and controversy as the value of information increases and as that value can be captured by the private sector. Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... Although distributional issues increasingly are becoming a focal point of publicly funded agricultural research, it is unlikely that changes in public-sector research policy would completely offset or neutralize distributional inequities, given that other forces also encourage structural change. Public research and development are critical to promoting innovation in and the maintenance of a vibrant agricultural industry. Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... Research Approach Broaden Public Research Goals Beyond Production and Efficiency Publicly funded research and development in agriculture historically have emphasized production of commodity products and, over time, production of these commodities for a global market. The committee noted, however, that the public agricultural research system has an obligation to attain multiple Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... The quest for higher value niche production technology and products is thus a perpetual one. Nevertheless, a more broadly defined publicly funded research agenda could serve an increasingly diverse industry that includes small-scale producers, producers using ecologically based agricultural practices, and others outside the commercial mainstream. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... Public Research, Stakeholder Participation, and Accountability The committee suggests that publicly funded agricultural research should be more accountable to the public, and it endorses public participation as a vital step in ensuring that diverse stakeholder needs are met through public-sector research. Participatory methods have been used successfully in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... Ex ante impact assessment research on prospective technologic thrusts and ex post research on recently commercialized technologies are most urgent when these technologies are likely to have major impacts on the structure of agriculture, the environment, food safety, or the relations between agriculture and consumers. Recommendation 4 Public-sector research institutions, at troth the federal and state level, should develop expertise and research programs devoted to analyzing the distributional implications and impacts of agricultural R&D for various groups of producers, using both ex ante and ex post research designs. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... Recommendation 5 Public-sector outreach, including extension, should take a proactive role in assessing the research and development and technology transfer needs of a variety of producers, including u~cderserved and minority groups; designing appropriate strategies, such as applied on-farm research, for serving those constituencies; and providing production assistance and other appropriate services, such as market development education for differentiated product markets, entrepreneurship education, f nancial strategies, value-added processing, and identif cation of opportunities for those working part time in agriculture. Recommendation 6 The public sector, at both the federal and the state level, should expand its programming focus with minority-serving institutions, which have unique access to underserved groups. Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... CSREES should evaluate the potential and effectiveness of these extension approaches to serve diverse constituents. Future Research The study committee envisions research in three major areas: to monitor and analyze structural variables; to serve the needs of diverse constituencies; and to further explain how other factors including market forces, government policy, and knowledge and information drive structural change. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... families, changing attitudes about food safety and quality, increasing competition from global market participants, economies of size and scope in production and distribution, risk mitigation and management strategies of buyers and suppliers, strategic positioning and market power or control strategies of individual businesses, and private-sector research and development and technology transfer policies. The committee recognizes the public sector's efforts thus far to investigate these driving forces and the effects of alternative policy instruments on structural change. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... Recommendation 9 The public sector should continue to experiment with research approachesincluding multifunctional partnerships that link research and extension, partnerships that link the public sector with the private and nonprofit t sectors, multi-state cooperation, and multidisciplinary collaboration as instruments for serving small farms, minority farmers, and other underserved producers. The public sector should evaluate the potential and effectiveness of these research approaches to serve these constituents. Read the entire page →

From page 1...

... There is concern that publicly funded agricultural research has influenced the development of technologies that have been or will be biased toward changes in fan size and industrialization of the farm sector. There is debate about whether publicly funded agricultural research is equally accessible to all users and whether it is targeted to the full range of user and citizens' groups.

Executive Summary Pages 1-15

Executive Summary
Pages 1-15