Currently Skimming:
Operational Strategies for Science in U.S. Agriculture
Operational Strategies for Science in U.S. Agriculture
Pages 21-36
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From page 21... ...
Government conducting or sponsoring food-related research are: Department of Agriculture; Department of the Interior; Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Department of Defense; Department of Commerce; Agency for International Development of the State Department; National Science Foundation; Energy Research and Development Administration; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Tennessee Valley Authority; Department of Transportation; Department of Housing and Urban Development; Environmental Protection Agency; National Bureau of Standards; and Federal Trade Commission. Also, see the Report on the Federal R&D Program FY 1976, Federal Council for Science and Technology, National Science Foundation, February 1975, for a discussion of the principal food research activities in the federal establishment.)
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From page 22... ...
agricultural research management system underscore the belief that it is time to recognize agriculture as a national resource and to treat it as such. A NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH POLICY COUNCIL A National Agricultural Research Policy Council should be established to provide representation from, communication with, and consideration of the total agricultural research system in devising national policies and strategies for strengthening agricultural research.
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From page 23... ...
research commitment to the world food balance; the appropriate trade-offs between factors related to the more immediate problems of food safety and nutrition versus the longer term problem of maintaining a high rate of growth in food production; the relative commitment to high levels of food production with dependability of supply in the intermediate future (applied research) versus laying down a sound base for consistent growth in food production over the longer term (basic or fundamental research)
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From page 24... ...
A recognized national strategy for the agricultural research system might make possible important compromises among conflicting social goals. For example, a strategic withdrawal of key agrichemicals might be achieved based on a coordinated program of research to provide substitutes, thus minimizing loss of food production capabilities while achieving environmental goals.
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From page 25... ...
With staff support, the NARPC would see that necessary information was collected and that studies were conducted on which to base guidelines. NARPC would also conduct reviews of agricultural research agency programs, missions, and goals, and it might have responsibility for promoting and providing guidelines for special grants programs in agriculturally related areas.
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From page 26... ...
Research was included only as a supporting goal or function for such missions as "Agricultural Production Efficiency" which also includes many non-research activities such as the control and inspection work of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Other stated missions involving research in the social sciences include farm income, agricultural marketing and distribution, rural development, and food and nutrition.
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From page 27... ...
This administrator should devote his major time and interest to agricultural research, representing research in the highest levels of deliberations of administrators in the USDA, seeking financial and public support for agricultural research, and providing information exchange and coordination among the diverse research programs. There have been suggestions that the staff support for such an administrator could be provided by CSRS, but a study of the present assignment and future program needs of CSRS provides convincing evidence that there is an important need and role for CSRS in helping to coordinate and strengthen research in the SAES.
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From page 28... ...
STATE LEVEL COORDINATION OF FEDERAL-STATE RESEARCH Orderly and periodic means for jointly reviewing research plans, budget requests, and programs at the state -28
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From page 29... ...
The goal should be an integrated research program to meet the needs of agriculture and food consumers in the state. FUNDING THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SYSTEM An adequate base of support for expanding agricultural research should be provided by means of an integrated program consisting of increased Hatch type funding to strengthen the federal-state research base, dedicated funding for the support of mission-oriented basic research not funded under existing agency or grants programs, and a system of competitive grant programs available to a variety of researchers.
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From page 30... ...
One can see examples of this in the imbalance of funding among types of research, in funds that are locked into fixed geographical patterns of expenditure, in the "earmarking" by Congress to assure the welfare of specific interests, and so on. Undoubtedly, some of the most productive support funds for any governmental program have been the Hatch funds.
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From page 31... ...
The national agricultural research management system must lock in the motivation and support to foster more effective research endeavors in this area. A substantial program for competitive research grants for agriculturally related research could provide several advantages, tirst, it could provide a funding source for research talent from both inside and outside the SAES drawing into agricultural research many scientists who are currently excluded because of lack of finances.
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From page 32... ...
. In conjunction with or separate from support for mission-oriented basic research, the USDA should establish a competitive grants program for food related research open to individuals, institutions, or consortiums on an equal merit basis.
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From page 33... ...
In other instances peer reviews are conducted primarily within concerned departments with further administrative reviews at the director's office level. These reviews emphasize, first, improvement of quality of research plans and, second, the rejection of poorly conceived and nonsignificant projects.
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From page 34... ...
Agricultural colleges were established or expanded to accommodate the agricultural experiment station that would receive limited federal support under the Hatch Act. During the following several decades, the SAES were usually the most prominent part of the agricultural college.
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From page 35... ...
Mission-oriented research often has even greater difficulty fitting into these systems, particularly when it seems to compete with educational programs for space and financial support. Following the post World War II expansion, agriculture -- which had become a combination of the college, the agricultural experiment station, and the extension service -- frequently retreated from its dominant role in the university to what the Mayers characterized as "Island Empires." But today this retreat and isolation is no longer defensible: programs of agricultural research can only be maintained if they receive an equitable share of state and federal funds and if agricultural scientists receive equitable treatment and recognition in institutional merit systems.
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From page 36... ...
Attraction and retention of the most able scientists in applied research require that the system of merit recognition be as good for applied accomplishments as for the more often acclaimed basic research. If the previously described flexible systems of research review and evaluation are implemented, the remaining limitations on an equitable reward system involving advancement in rank and salary are in the internal criteria and advancement system of each organization.
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