Technology is only partly responsible for these changes. Public policy has also played a role. However, little is known about which policies in conjunction with technology adoption have speeded up, slowed down, or reversed the trends in structural change. This assessment is focusing on future and emerging technologies in other animal, plant, chemical, mechanization, and information areas and their implications for agricultural structure. The possibility of developing technologies for different kinds of agriculture structures will be explored. The assessment will explore linkages between policy and structure so policymakers can have a clearer understanding of the factors that influence the evolution of the agricultural sector. Interim Deliverable: Special Report for the 1985 Farm Bill Legislation: - (Published March 1985) O Reauthorization of Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 (P.L. 97-98) Related Legislative Activity: O The House Committee on Science and Technology, Senate Committee on Small Business, and Joint Economic Committee: hearings and oversight responsibilities in the areas of research for new technologies, sustainability of small and moderate size farms, and the economic well-being of the agricultural sector, respectively. Committee activities involve hearings and possibly the introduction of legislation related to the agricultural sector. Numerous Committees are using project findings during the debate on the 1985 Farm Bill. Requested by: House Committee on Science and Technology, and its Subcommittee on Senate Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Small Business: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Projected Delivery Date to TAB: Delivered - Under TAB Review TECHNOLOGIES TO MAINTAIN BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Maintaining biological diversity of plants and animals is both a matter of insurance and investment necessary to sustain and improve agriculture, to industrial innovation and genetic engineering. Agricultural development needs wild plants as a source of new genes to increase yields, to improve disease resistance, and to increase the ability of crops to withstand extreme environmental stresses. Wild plants are used by the pharmaceutical industry as sources of valuable compounds that, once discovered in nature, sometimes can be synthesized in the laboratory. Animal physiology affords many clues to the origins and nature of human ailments. For example, the cotton-topped marmoset, a species of monkey susceptible to lymphatic cancer, is helping to produce a potent anticancer vaccine. Genetic engineering, an emerging technology with great potentials for agriculture, depends on biological diversity for the raw material to engineer. Thus, loss of diversity could reduce the potential opportunities that this technology offers. But while the importance of diverse biological resources is receiving increasing attention, diversity appears to be declining and valuable reservoirs of germ plasm are disappearing. In order to identify opportunities to maintain biological diversity, OTA will: 1) assess the status of biological diversity and its rates of change; 2) assess the economic, social, ecological, and political implications of a decline in biological diversity; 3) assess technologies (both in situ and ex situ) to maintain plant and animal biological diversity; 4) assess the role of institutions and U.S.-funded agencies (e.g., U.N. and World Bank) in developing and transferring beneficial technologies for maintaining biological diversity; and 5) identify policy options that will facilitate the development and use of such technologies to maintain biological diversity. Legislation: O Foreign Assistance Act of 1983, Title VII (22 U.S.C. 2151q) O National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321) Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531) Related Legislative Activity: House Committee on Foreign Affairs: hearings on biological Senate Committee on Foreign Relations: hearings and introduction of Requested by: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Senate Committee on Foreign Relations House Committee on Science and Technology House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and its Subcommittee on House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and its Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade, and its Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations House Committee on Agriculture 117 INTEGRATED RENEWABLE RESOURCES MANAGEMENT FOR U.S. INSULAR AREAS U.S. insular areas in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and the Pacific (Guam, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands) have experienced considerable historical land resource degradation. Freshwater supplies may be highly variable and tropical soils and waters can be relatively infertile, requiring special management consideration. Today they rely heavily on food imports, and many local food production technologies and incentives have been lost. The U.S., Hawaii, and territorial governments have voiced commitments to greater food production diversity and self-sufficiency. Activities in Hawaii provide models of these developments. - The small size and limited resources of these insular areas require that land planning consider the capability of sites to sustain agriculture and aquaculture; the probable impacts of development on other resources; and alternatives to traditional management schemes that may be more appropriate to the economies and ecologies of these areas. Technologies designed for temperate, continental agriculture and aquaculture frequently dependent on relatively low cost energy supplies, large capital outlays, and well-developed markets -- typically are not suitable for tropical insular areas. Reaping sustained benefits from food production developments requires technologies appropriate to resource characteristics and incentive schemes appropriate to cultural settings that encourage integrated development and management of island resources. In order to assess technologies for insular renewable resource management and development, OTA will: 1) review data on freshwater demands, supplies and uses and assess water supply enhancement and conservation technologies; 2) assess agricultural technologies given the availability and quality of water and land supplies; 3) assess aquaculture technologies alone and in combination with agricultural technologies; and 4) assess maricultural technologies for their suitability in the insular settings; 5) identify integrated land capability analysis technologies appropriate to island resource development; and 6) assess certain opportunities in case studies that include implementation action plans. Legislation: o S. 3840, Compact ot Free Association Related Legislative Activity: The House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Senate responsibility for U.S. territories continuing The U.S. territories are a special issue under most renewable Requested by: Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, and its Subcommittee on - 118 LOW-RESOURCE AGRICULTURE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Most people in developing countries are subsistence farmers who cannot obtain or afford the expensive fertilizers and pesticides upon which the highyield (Green Revolution) technologies are based. Thus, as populations grow and fuel prices rise, low-resource agricultural technologies are receiving increased attention from donors and researchers. For example, international donors such as the Peace Corps and the World Bank are giving high priority to research and development projects that enhance rather than replace lowresource, traditional farming methods. This is particularly true for programs in Africa where subsistence farmers hold the key to increasing food production and where the continuing need for massive food aid demonstrates the failure of many past agricultural, development assistance and resource protection policies. This OTA assessment will build upon the results of a previous Technical Memorandum, Africa Tomorrow: Issues in Technology, Agriculture, and U.S. Foreign Aid. By examining low-resource agricultural technologies world-wide, OTA will help Congress evaluate programs and formulate policies related to both U.S. agriculture and foreign policy. In order to do this, OTA will: 1) determine which of these technologies can increase African food production in socio-economically and environmentally sustainable ways; 2) identify the U.S. role in technology development and transfer; 3) assess actual and potential benefits to the U.S. from participation in international agricultural research on low-resource methods; and 4) evaluate certain aspects of the Sahel Development Program as a case study in U.S. public and private assistance to Africa. Legislation: African Famine Relief Act (P.L. 99-8) Supplemental Appropriations Act for African Emergency Famine Relief International Security and Development Act of 1985 (H.R. 1555) Food Assistance and Africa Agriculture Act of 1985 (H.R. 2080) Related Legislative Activity: Congress will continue its debate on the 1985 Farm Bill, including reauthorization for the Food for Peace Program (P.L. 480) Additional famine relief may be necessary tor Atrica House Select Committee on Hunger and the House Committee on Science and Technology: hearings on strategies to increase food production in Sub-Saharan Africa Requested by: Technology Assessment Board House Committee on Agriculture House Committee on Foreign Affairs (endorsement) House Committee on Science and Technology, and its Subcommittee on House Select Committee on Hunger As mandated by PL 96-151, reviews epidemiologic studies regarding longterm health effects of veterans exposed to dioxins in Vietnam. Legislation: Veterans Health Program Extension and Improvement Act of 1979 P.L. 97-72 authorized an extension of the study to consider service S. 1616 and H.R. 3297 require a study of the "gender specific Related Legislative Activity: House Committee on Veterans' Affairs: oversight hearings concerning OTA approved the protocol and continues to monitor the CDC study. Despite some improvement, the health status of American Indians and Alaska Natives remains substantially below that of the general U.S. population. Because of the Federal Government's special responsibilities for the delivery and financing of health care for nearly one million of the 1.5 million Indians in the U.S., Congress continues to be concerned about the quality, appropriateness, accessibility, and financing of such care. This project will be a comprehensive examination of health technologies and services provided to Indians and of whether those technologies and services are appropriate and adequate in view of the health problems of Indians. The assessment will: 1) analyze the quality and adequacy of data on Indian health status, including trends over time, 2) identify the types and distribution of technologies and services available through the Indian Health Service and other providers, 3) determine the desirable range and methods of delivery of health-related technologies and services, given our conclusions on health status, and compare this range to the current situation, and 4) develop policy options to improve the selection, provision, financing, and delivery of technologies and services to Indian populations. Legislation: Reauthorization of the 1976 Indian Health Care Improvement Act |