stable budget sources. Twenty-seven percent of such projects in 1962 were adjunct to 262 existing Hatch projects, and 96 percent were associated with a phase of basic research arising from on-going experiment station research projects. The project grants have significantly strengthened the basic research of the State stations. Such grants do not adversely affect the regular agricultural research work of the State stations, rather they extend and strengthen it. Effective, time-proven mechanisms, both formal and informal in nature, are in operation for research program coordination and review, within and among the individual State stations, and between them and the intramural research program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Proposals for support by Federal agencies other than the USDA are reviewed by State experiment station directors and are coordinated with existing projects. PLAN OF THE STUDY The general plan for this study was developed by the Agricultural Board early in August 1963. At that time the scope of the study and the major questions to be examined were determined. It was decided to use the statistical data for fiscal 1962 available from the various Federal agencies as the primary source of quantitative information, because the 1963 data were not yet complete. The Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy of the State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges provided certain information not available from the agency reports and in other ways assisted in planning and conducting the study. The executive secretary of the board personally interviewed 29 of the State stations directors to obtain their views concerning the kinds of financial support and procedures for program coordination at their institutions. Basic fiscal and program data for the State stations were obtained from the reports of the Cooperative State Experiment Station Service of the USDA. Examination of the records of the Science Information Exchange of the Smithsonian Institution yielded a list of 1,217 grants made by Federal agencies to individuals whose names appeared in a listing of staff members of State stations. The staff of the Agricultural Board examined the titles, budgets and personnel listed for each of the grants and forwarded these records for verification to the respective State station directors. This resulted in an authenticated list of 1,111 project grants and contracts made and active in 1962. Training grants and special grants for travel and facilities were not included. The detailed budgets of the 982 grants made by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health were examined to determine the manner in which grant funds were used. Additional information of a more general nature was obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the annual reports of the State stations, and from the Office of Statistical Studies of the National Science Foundation. Three meetings of the Agricultural Board were held to develop this report. A major problem encountered stems from the lack of uniformity in the organizational structures and budgeting procedures used by the various research organizations and granting agencies, particularly the relation between the year the grant was made and the year the money was spent, especially the provision for extension of the time allotted to the performance of the grant. This made difficult the summarization of data from a large number of operational units which are dissimilar in their structure and procedures. In spite of these differences it is the opinion of the Agricultural Board that the data provide a valid basis for the conclusions. LIMITS OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH Many of the underlying physical, biological and socioeconomic phenomena which are studied by agricultural scientists are also basic to the work of scientists in other fields. For this and other reasons it is not possible clearly to delineate the dimensions of agricultural research. Agricultural research is not a discrete or distinct segment of science. In our complex and highly interdependent modern scientific society problems cannot be effectively studied in isolation; consequently there is a necessary flow of scientists, ideas, and research methodology along all of the intervening disciplinary avenues that connect the center of emphasis here called agricultural research with other similar centers which are called health research, space research, defense research, natural resources research, et al. Any attempt to "compartmentalize” areas of research which would impede this dynamic interchange should be strongly resisted. As with those whose work is identified with one of the centers of emphasis, the sci entists who are engaged in agricultural research are drawn from all of the relevant disciplinary specialties of the physical, biological and social sciences. Thus there are geneticists, biochemists, economists, physicists, hydrologists, statisticians, sociologists, physiologists, and many more disciplinary specialties represented in each of the major areas of research. Because the boundaries of agricultural research are not clearly delineated the manner in which it has been institutionalized shows little uniformity. Forestry, biochemistry, botany, veterinary medicine, entomology, sociology, home economics, are examples of areas of subject matter which in some instances are included in agricultural research organizations and in other instances are not. These and other differences of institutional organization and operation made it virtually impossible to obtain strictly comparable data on personnel, facilities, or financial support from all segments which support agricultural research. It was with the above factors in mind that the decision was made to define agricultural research for the purposes of this report as that investigative work conducted by organizational units designated by title as agricultural or sup ported by budgets so designated. It is recognized that this pragmatic classification fails to include some work in other organizational units which might well be classified as agricultural. Conversely there may be included as agricultural some research programs which might be classified differently. Nevertheless much that is agricultural research is immediately identifiable as such, and conclusions developed on the basis of the practical definition given above are not likely to be in error with respect to this central core. INVENTORY OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH The agricultural research establishment in the United States has both public and private sectors, the latter being somewhat the larger. The public or taxsupported sector comprises the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the State agricultural experiment stations. The private sector consists of industrial firms which provide supplies and services to agriculture or which make use of agricultural products, and foundations. The number of persons employed and the total annual expenditures for research by each of these three groups is given in the following table. It should be noted that the scientific personnel are expressed in terms of "full time equivalents" (FTE) in order to put the figures on a comparable basis. Data supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture 1961 scientific Funds, 1962 U.S. Department of Agriculture. State agricultural experiment stations.. Agriculturally related industries.. 12 persons each working half time constitute 1 full-time equivalent. 2 Calculated on assumption of $30,000 per scientist, conservatively estimated below the average of $35,000 for industry, NSF 63-7, p. 54. U.S. Department of Agriculture The U.S. Department of Agriculture, primarily through its Agricultural Research Service, conducts a broadly based intramural research program. Research activities in other services, such as Agricultural Marketing Service, Forest Service, Soil Conservation Service, etc., are coordinated by the Administrator, Agricultural Research Service. The scientific personnel involved, expressed as FTE, is shown below. Data supplied by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, professional staff FTE Washington-Beltsville_. Field stations___ Assigned to State stations_. Other___. Total_ 1 Plus Forest Service, 957. 1 1,282 11, 807 11.014 136 5, 106 It is noteworthy that nearly 20 percent of the Agricultural Research Service scientists of the U.S. Department of Agriculture are located at facilities operated by State agricultural experiment stations, where they work in close cooperation with the scientific staff of the State station. In these situations a part of overhead costs of U.S. Department of Agriculture personnel, such as space, heat, light, janitor service, telephone, etc., is carried by the State. State agricultural experiment stations The State agricultural experiment stations form a part of the land-grant college or university system, in which research activities are commingled with teaching and extension work. There are 53 State experiment stations, each supported in part by Federal funds administered by the Cooperative State Experiment Station Service. In 1962 these amounted to $34,700,000 and constituted approximately 23 percent of the total sum appropriated to the USDA for agricultural research. Of the total of 9,964 permanent staff members holding experiment station appointments in 1961, research activities accounted for 5,186 full-time equivalents of their time. The administration and financial support of the work conducted by the 53 State agricultural experiment stations was the major focus of this study. Industry The orientation and emphasis of the research carried out by industries related to agriculture or utilizing agricultural products are generally different from those prevailing in the USDA or State experiment stations. Industry is primarily concerned with product development and to this end often makes use of information developed by tax-supported research workers. Out of the estimated 13,000 FTE research workers in agriculturally oriented industry, 5,500 FTE are engaged in utilization development, market quality, and transportation research. This figure exceeds the total FTE of all research personnel in either the USDA or State stations. Other areas in which industry emphasis is apparent are entomology (650 FTE, of which 530 are employed by chemical companies), equipment (800), dairy products (300), animal health (480). Only in certain areas, such as crop improvement (corn and sorghum breeding, 135 FTE), are there activities which closely parallel work in the Federal and State agenices. The profit motive largely directs the expenditures of funds for research by industry. ORGANIZATION AND SUPPORT OF THE STATE AGRICULTURE EXPERIMENT STATIONS Organization With but few exceptions, each State station is organized as a component part of the college of agriculture of the land-grant university of the State, and functions as the research arm of that college. The chief administrative officer of each State station is the director. The work of the State stations is conducted by staff members of the several academic departments, each administered by a department head or chairman who has line responsibility for the research program conducted by the staff of that department. The basic organizational unit of research in the State station is the research project. The development of a project involves the identification and definition of the problem, a statement of the objectives of the study, an outline of the procedures to be used in attacking the problem and an enumeration of the personnel, facilities, and funds needed to conduct the research. The project thus is the entity from which departmental and State stations research programs are built. It is the basic unit for the review and evaluation of research, for both internal and external program coordination, and for budget building and administration. In 1962 in the State stations there were 12,916 active projects, with an annual turnover of about 15 percent through completions and new starts. Most of the scientific staff of the State stations are members of the academic departments of their colleges of agriculture, veterinary medicine, forestry, or home economics. With but few exceptions, the headquarters are located on the campus of the respective land-grant university. In many cases the station scientist holds a joint appointment, and in addition to his research responsibilities is assigned teaching duties or extension activities. This has long been regarded as a desirable feature of the land-grant institutions and one source of their strength. Those who teach, particularly at the graduate level, have an obligation to keep broadly informed about current scientific developments. Those who engaged in extension work are brought closely in touch with current field problems. In either case the effectiveness of the investigator may be enhanced. In addition to the research conducted by staff at the main station, most State stations also have staff located at field facilities or substations elsewhere in the State. The more than 400 State and Federal field facilities distributed throughout the Nation constitute an important part of the agricultural research facilities of the country. Summary of support The most characteristic feature of the financial support of the State agricultural experiment stations is that it comes independently from several sources. Administratively, therefore, the budgetary and fiscal operations in the State stations are complicated. Sources of funds available for expenditure in 1962 are given in the following table. This item includes the unspent, but largely obligated, balances from the previous year from other than Federal Hatch funds, which in some States are carried forward into the next year. It is essentially a bookkeeping item, present each year, not an independent fund available for the enlargement of the program. The principle of multiple support for the State stations is well established and well accepted: At the level of a single project it is not uncommon to have a project budget include funds from three or more sources. Although all contribute to the conduct of the work, the funds are not commingled in a fiscal sense, and budget and fiscal control are maintained independently for each source of funds. The manner in which the several funds are used to support the various functional categories of the station budget differs widely among the States and reflects both the nature of the funds and the institutional policies of the particular station. An illustrative example of the percentage distribution of several types of funds as found in one major State station, not necessarily typical, is shown in appendix. Appropriations from State governments State appropriations are by far the largest source of support for the operations of the State stations and in 1962 provided over one-half of their income. In addition to these funds for annual direct operating costs, the States also provide capital funds for office and laboratory buildings and for land and facilities. The work of the State stations is also supported indirectly by State appropriations made to the parent university for general administrative services and for libraries and other research facilities which are available to the State station staff. Such indirect support is not included in previous table. Approximately 88 percent of the State appropriations assigned to the State stations are used as the primary source for salaries for the tenure staff scientists and for the supporting subprofessional personnel who also are on continuing appointments. The remaining State funds are used to employ temporary personnel and to purchase supplies and services incident to the conduct of the research program. State funds available to the State stations are allocated to the subject matter departments for support of approved projects. Such funds are expended at the discretion of the principal investigator in charge of the project, subject to the normal administrative and fiscal review procedures of the institution in question. Both fiscal and scientific accountability for the work of the station rests with the director. Federal Hatch funds Under the authority of the Consolidated Hatch Act of 1955, funds are appropriated by Congress to State stations through the USDA. In 1962 these funds constituted rather less than one-fifth of their income. The amount allocated to each State is determined by formulas specified in the act. Allocations over $90,000 to any State must be offset by State funds. Not less than 20 percent of the amounts appropriated after 1946 must be used for marketing research. Provision is also made for the expenditure of not more than 25 percent for regional projects or projects in which two or more State experiment stations cooperate. At the State level the Hatch funds are administered in a manner similar to that described for State appropriations. Projects are developed by the staff scientists, and are subjected to review at the department and station level. If approved by the station director the project proposal is submitted to the cooperation State experiment station service for approval. To be eligible for support from funds earmarked for cooperative regional research, the project must previously have been recommended by a nationwide committee of directors. Each year the station director develops for the Cooperative State Experiment Station Service a listing of projects showing the way in which the Hatch funds allotted to his State are to be used. In 1962 nearly 78 percent of the formula Hatch funds were used by the State stations for salaries with 45 percent of the staff receiving all, or more usually a part, of their salary from Hatch funds Also 88 percent of the State appropriations are used for salaries. As with the State appropriations, the station director has both fiscal and scientific accountability for the Hatch funds allotted to the station. At the Federal level the Administrator of the Cooperative State Experiment Station Service is the person to whom the Secretary of Agriculture delegates responsibility for the administration of Hatch funds. Support from nongovernmental sources In 1962 the State stations received $12,515,000 from industrial firms, trade associations, private foundations, and from individuals. Such support usually served to extend and strengthen the more practical aspects of the research program, and in general was earmarked for designated purposes or projects. Usually these funds were used to employ research assistants, temporary professional or technical personnel or to provide operating funds for equipment and supplies. In most instances the separate amounts for nongovernmental sources were smaller and the procedures less formalized than the project grants from Federal agencies. In addition, the State stations each year receive gifts of land, equipment, livestock, seed, feed, fertilizers, and other agricultural supplies. In addition, land, livestock, and equipment are often provided without charge by farmers and ranchers on whose property experiments are conducted by station personnel. Similar cooperation is often provided by business firms serving agriculture. Although it is difficult to obtain a wholly defensible figure for the dollar value of such donations, a conservative estimate made recently yielded an annual total for all State stations of $5,300,000. Because it cannot be budgeted this item is not included in the table on page 11. One major State which developed information by a careful survey arrived at a figure for gifts and services representing 20 percent of its total budget. Sales income As a byproduct of research programs, many of the investigations conducted by the State stations involve research with crops and animals having significant market value. The stations received in 1962 9.9 percent of their total budget from sales. Such funds are frequently budgeted back to the department or research unit which generated them, as a revolving fund, for example, to purchase cattle to replace those sold at the end of an experiment. Project support from Federal agencies other than U.S. Department of Agriculture In 1962 staff members of the State stations received $14,363,000 in the form of project grants and contracts, subsequently referred to as grants, from several Federal agencies other than the USDA. These grants are made in accordance with the authorization of the granting agency to support the work of a specific scientist, suitably qualified. A brief statement of the mission of each of the principal granting agencies appears in appendix. |