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Dr. RODENHISER. You will note in this material, that we are requesting increases for seven soil and water research laboratories, four others, three research watershed research centers and one for the hydrograph center at Beltsville.

RIVERSIDE, CALIF., LABORATORY

The first item is that for the U.S. Salinity Laboratory at Riverside, Calif. This Laboratory is a national center for basic research on the use of saline water for agriculture, its effect on crop growth and reclamation, and management of saline soils.

We feel that with the shortage of water in the Southwest, and the increasing demand for industrial and urban uses, that there just is no alternative than to learn to use some of the poorer quality water in irrigation.

This problem exists in about 50 percent of the irrigated areas of 18 Western States, including Hawaii. Just to give you an example, the Colorado River water contains about 700 parts per million of salt. In other words, for every acre-foot of water that goes on the land, we are adding from that water, a ton of salts. These may be sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chlorides-any one or all of them or possibly more.

Our current research at the Laboratory covers reactions between the dissolved and absorbed constituents; chemical conditions in relation to plant growth-for example, testing and developing salt-tolerant varieties of various crops; and our diagnostic techniques for saltaffected soils. At the moment, we have to bring these various soils into the laboratory and test them there. What we need to do is to develop some sort of technique for diagnosing the situation in the soil itself outside the laboratory.

Also, we are working on water composition and reactions occurring when salt affected soils are irrigated or drained; the management of leaching procedures.

The part of the laboratory that we are referring to now is an addition which was completed in 1958. No funds were provided for operations as hoped. With the $50,000 which we are requesting, we will fill a professional vacancy and purchase some up-to-date equipment and modern research instrumentation that is needed in the development of this program.

WATKINSVILLE, GA.

Our next request is for an increase of $65,000 for the soil and water research laboratory located at Watkinsville, Ga. The research at this station is directed to problems in the conservation and management of soil and water in the southern Piedmont area, from Virginia to Alabama. In this general area where the soils are in high rainfall regions, they are thoroughly leached, and adding fertilizer for high grass yields does not solve the problem.

In some of these areas, in many instances, livestock feeding on good stands of grass fail to make any gain in weight. We feel that in all probability a study of some of the trace and minor elements of soils will be required to correct the situation.

30-087-64-pt. 2

The new addition to this laboratory will be completed early in fiscal year 1965, and the increase we are requesting would permit this laboratory to become operational for detailed, chemical assays of the soils and plant materials which could well permit us to interpret the effect of soil and water management and fertility practices on feed value of forages.

TWIN FALLS, IDAHO

Our third item is for staffing and operating the Twin Falls, Idaho, laboratory, which is now completed. We have started to staff on the basis of funds that were supplied in fiscal year 1964

Mr. WHITTEN. I notice more than half of the total amount for staffing all of them is at Twin Falls.

Dr. RODENHISER. The point is we are ready for operations now, Mr. Chairman. In the past, as a rule, we have had increasing funds at intervals for recruiting a director and maybe one scientist in one year, and more scientists subsequently in the process of developing the laboratory. In this particular case, however, we have waited a little longer. Now we are ready to go.

I would like Mr. Stephens to show the first chart we have. This laboratory provided for the development of needed technology for the soil conservation and irrigation management that is associated with the soils in the Snake River Valley. This extends from Wyoming across southern Idaho, northern Utah, Nevada, and on up into Oregon. This is one of the major irrigated areas where water management is most critical in the entire United States.

You will note the artist's drawing at the top of the chart showing five buildings [pointing].

We have our soil and plant separation rooms in one of these buildings. Others include the engineering laboratory for design of hydraulic systems for irrigation, much needed in this general area; the environmental control laboratories where basic research on water requirements of plants will be studied; and a building for storing machinery. Our research in this area will be on irrigation, moisture conservation, water movement in soils, drainage, nutrient balance, water control systems, and conservation practices.

We are proposing an increase of $400,000, which will provide for the further stafling of this new facility and in addition, acquiring some major equipment and instrumentation. Also, of course, for utilities and supplies and other operating costs that are necessary for the development of this new laboratory.

SIDNEY, MONT.

Our next increase is for support for the Sidney, Mont. Laboratory. This Laboratory will provide for both basic and applied research on wind and water erosion control and moisture conservation practices, on the Joplin soils of the Northern Plains in the States of Montana and Wyoming.

The increase of $50,000 is a minimum essential for our program planning and limited purchase of scientific equipment. You are aware that we have been provided with a 160-acre farm by the soil conservation district on which we are already conducting some research. We have a director appointed and one senior scientist. The State is sup

plying some subprofessional help. The State transferred to us about 12 acres of land for a site for this new laboratory. It will be completed in March of 1965.

MANDAN, N. DAK.

Another increase is for the Laboratory at Mandan, N. Dak. The current programs here are concerned with the developing of improved practices for best utilization of the soil and water resources for forage and other crops on the dry cropland and rangelands of the northern Great Plains.

The increase of $50,000 is a minimum amount and will permit us to initiate limited research on soil and water management and practices for the irrigation developments and to purchase some scientific equipment that is needed in support of the program.

FLORENCE, S.C.

Our next request is for $100,000 for operating the Laboratory at Florence, S.C., the completion date of which will be October 1964. This is a laboratory-office building in the heart of the Middle and Upper Coastal Plains, a 30-million-acre region of Georgia, South and North Carolina.

The present and future agriculture production in this area depends on solution of basic soil management problems, which are many and varied. In general, they include excessive soil crusting and compaction, an increasing serious water and wind erosion problem, balancing fertility practices against new production practices, and control of excess water on croplands.

This increase would permit us initial staffing of scientists and supporting personnel and purchasing equipment that is needed in the first phases in the operation of the Laboratory. The Soil Conservation Service Research Needs Report listed over 50 projects needing urgent attention in this general area.

BUSHLAND, TEX.

The seventh item is in the amount of $65,000 for our Bushland, Tex., Soil and Water Research Laboratory. The building was completed in August of 1962. The agriculture economy of the Southern High Plains and the rolling Red Plains includes a large part of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, and is based on intensive crop production on irrigated and nonirrigated land, and on grazing enterprises.

They have extreme drought and wind erosion in this area, making agriculture really a high-risk industry. In fact, the overdraft on the aquifers on the Southern High Plains is now exceeding 4 million acre-feet a year. There is no question that results of our research that will be made available to the Great Plains conservation program promise to aid greatly in stabilizing agriculture in this area.

The proposed increase will provide additional technical assistance and scientific equipment, and installations for the intensification of our research in this area.

ATHENS, GA,

Our next increase is for the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory at Athens, Ga. This Laboratory was occupied in September 1963.

It was established to study those diseases causing the highest condemnation losses in dressed poultry in the Southeast. I might note that the losses to the poultry industry as a whole from condemnation diseases amounts to approximately $100 million annually. The total value of the poultry industry as a whole is approximately $3 billion a year. In this Laboratory we have excellent equipment for research under carefully controlled environmental conditions. The research at this Laboratory on the respiratory diseases associated with the condemnation of poultry conducted by specialists, on diseases of poultry, poultry husbandry, and by engineers will be applicable throughout the country.

We are requesting a $50,000 increase to provide for a more balanced overall program with additional scientists for research in biochemistry, in the initiation of research on fungus diseases which are rather critical and prevalent among the poultry in the Southeast, and also virus diseases.

STATE COLLEGE, MISSISSIPPI

The next item is for the Central Poultry Research Laboratory at State University wherein they have supplied us with temporary labNovember 1964. The research at this Laboratory, and the program at Athens, are complementary. At the Mississippi Laboratory the emphasis is on poultry management, in relation to prevention and control of the diseases, nutrition studies, and physical requirements. Studies will be made in general on large-scale operations in contrast to those at the Georgia Laboratory.

Work is now underway on construction of this Laboratory, but we have had over the past few years close cooperation with Mississippi State University wherein they have supplied us with temporary laboratory and office facilities.

For this $75,000 increase we will be adding to our scientific staff and making our initial purchases of experimental poultry, supplies, feed, and equipment.

COLUMBIA, MO.

Our next item concerns our Laboratory at Columbia, Mo., where we will be conducting research on biological control of insects. At this time we are requesting $80,000 for initial staffing and partially equipping the Laboratory, which will be completed in March 1965. The bids for the Laboratory have been advertised. The research at this Laboratory will provide for the basic information needed in our overall program for biological control of insects. It will include research on host specificity of insect parasites, predators, and diseases; determination of the biological and nutritional requirements of the parasites and predators; the effect of climate on the abundance of parasites and predators; and research on the rearing of insects and the integration of biological and chemical methods of control.

It is urgent that the initial staffing be provided in order that we can initiate as soon as possible the research on these phases of the program that I have outlined.

Some of the funds will be used to procure the essential equipment, microscopes, environmental control cabinets and rearing cages.

FARGO, N. DAK.

Our next increase is for the new laboratory located in Fargo, N. Dak. for metabolism and radiation research. We are asking for an increase of $320,000 which will be used to strengthen our projected basic research that will aid in the development of new selective pesticides through studies on their behavior and breakdown in insects, in crops, and in livestock. And, second, to develop improved methods of irradiating insects and determining the genetic effects of them.

This research would provide information on how pesticides and their metabolites affect insects, livestock, and crops; how these pesticides are absorbed, transported, and eliminated in plants and animals. The radiation research will provide information on dosages which will avoid loss of sexual vigor in insects used in our program of control by the male sterile technique. We feel that there is urgent need for this basic information and it is important that the laboratory be fully equipped and staffed at as early a date as possible.

Going on with the staffing of our other laboratories, our next four items pertain

MANPOWER CEILINGS

Mr. WHITTEN. Dr. Shaw, looking at the increased amounts of money for these new laboratories, of course you have to staff them with additional people. It is ridiculous to have provided laboratories and not staff them. I am, however, wondering, under your manpower ceiling, how are you going to find people for new jobs when you can't keep your people at the old jobs? How are you going to manage that? This is a little broader than just this one segment, that is the reason I direct it to you, Dr. Shaw.

Dr. SHAW. The staffing for the 1964 program is provided in the ceilings that we have been allowed for 1964. Our proposed ceiling for 1965 is actually a reduction over the number of personnel that we have in

Mr. WHITTEN. How does that compare? Did we put that in earlier in our record? Do we have that yet, Mr. Grant?

Mr. GRANT. A table of June 30 employment for the Agricultural Research Service was put in the record in connection with yesterday's testimony.

(The table referred to appears on p. 274 of pt. 1.)

Mr. WHITTEN. At this point, how does it affect you, Dr. Shaw? Dr. SHAW. Our ceilings are based on the total employment for the Agricultural Research Service.

Mr. WHITTEN. Yes, sir.

Dr. SHAW. So that we will be required in 1965 to reduce by a total of 83 permanent positions and 101 other positions or a total of 184 reduction over the personnel that we will be allowed June 30 of this year. Now, we will have no choice in terms of staffing these laboratories. This is going to require people. We will have to add people and in order to accommodate this, we will have to reduce hiring in other areas. We will have to cut down employment in other areas.

Mr. WHITTEN. Now, throughout your department, how many new places of employment are you going to have, similar to what Dr. Rodenhiser is discussing?

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