institutions are (a) land-grant colleges or experiment stations and (b) other colleges and universities offering graduate training in the sciences basic to forestry and having a forestry school. Appropriations for this Service for fiscal year 1962 and fiscal year 1963 are as (A table showing the distribution of the Hatch Act funds to the various States based on the prescribed formula, together with the regional research and marketing research funds for fiscal years 1962 and 1963 is attached as exhibit II.) Appropriations for this activity, including penalty mail, have increased from $14.2 million in fiscal year 1954 to $38.3 million for fiscal year 1963, an increase of $24.1 million or 169 percent. The amounts provided by years are as follows: The use of the funds for fiscal year 1963 for the various fields of research carried out by the State experiment stations is as follows: Improving market efficiency and expanding utilization: B. Evaluation, maintenance and improvement of product quality . $2,493 2,389 2, 042 1, 146 Subtotal..... Reducing farm costs and increasing returns: A. Farm management and planning.. 8,070 B. Development of new and improved farm machinery, equipment and structures___ 1, 081 C. Reducing animal and poultry losses from diseases, parasites, and nutritional disorders. D. Animal and poultry genetics, nutrition and environmental and reproductive physiology E. Reducing plant disease, insect and weed losses. F. Plant genetics, physiology, cytology, and biochemical behavior Subtotal.... Improving use of natural resources: A. Soil conservation and management... B. Hydrology, water conservation and management. C. Forestry. D. Range. E. Wildlife. F. Economics of conservation and use of natural resources. 1, 187 1,886 6, 737 4, 874 4, 535 890 21, 190 3, 299 705 555 200 35 205 4,999 1, 183 1, 281 36, 723 Considerable utilization and marketing research is conducted by the State experiment stations. Further information will be found on page 16 of the special study of utilization research attached to this report. AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE The Agricultural Marketing Service was established November 2, 1953, under authority of section 161, Revised Statutes (5 U.S.C. 22), Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1953, and other authorities. The Service aids in advancing the orderly and efficient marketing and the effective distribution of products from the Nation's farms. The domestic marketing and distribution functions of the Department are centered primarily in this Service. Marketing research in this agency consists of two main areas: Market quality research, and transportation and facilities research. Also, these fields of marketing research may involve contracts and grants with qualified foreign institutions, under the provisions of Public Law 480, where the results of such research will be of mutual interest and benefit to American agriculture and to the foreign country involved. Market quality research is directed toward quality maintenance and improvement by solving physiological and pathological problems encountered as farm and food products move through marketing channels. The problems include spoilage and damage in handling, storage, and transportation; insect attacks or contamination of products in marketing channels; and quality evaluation, which includes development of objective measurements, tests, devices, and instruments for use in establishing standards and specifications for the quality of products and for inspection and grading, and in devising means to protect product quality. Transportation and facilities research is intended to improve physical facilities and equipment and to devise methods for assembling, handling, storing, transporting, and packaging of wholesale and retail farm and food products. Το increase the efficiency of marketing, the studies include transportation costs and services and their economic effects on agriculture and the planning and development of efficient facilities in special locations for off-farm conditioning, handling, storing, buying, and selling of farm products. The Agricultural Marketing Service conducts research at 45 field stations throughout the United States. As of December 31, 1962, these facilities employed a total of 163 professional and 133 nonprofessional personnel, a total of 296 persons. Operating funds allocated to these locations for fiscal year 1963 total in excess of $3 million. (Attached as exhibit III is a list of all field research stations of the Agricultural Marketing Service showing location, operating funds, personnel, research activities and type of buildings occupied.) The appropriation for the research program of this Service was $4.620 million in fiscal year 1962. In fiscal year 1963, it increased to $4.863 million. During the past 10 years, funds provided for marketing research have increased from $1.919 million to $4.863 million, an increase of $2.850 million, or approximately 150 percent. A table showing the appropriations since 1954 follows: The close relationship between marketing research conducted by the agricultural marketing research and utilization research under the Agricultural Research Service is discussed on pages 17 and 18 of the special study on utilization research attached to this report. 96884-63-pt. 448 RESEARCH ON BASIC COMMODITIES A significant portion of the research efforts of the Agricultural Research Service, State Experiment Station Service, and Agricultural Marketing Service is devoted directly to the six basic storable commodities. In 1962, these commodities accounted for about one-fourth of total gross farm income as follows: As of February 28, 1963, over 50 percent of Commodity Credit Corporation inventories were made up of excess supplies of the three major crops corn, cotton, and wheat-as follows: The research expenditures of these three research agencies for fiscal year 1963 devoted directly to the six basic commodities is as follows: In addition, many of the other research programs of the Department contribute indirectly to the six basic commodities. Research on soil and water conservation, research on methods for controlling and eradicating plant and animal diseases and insects, and nutrition and consumer use research are all of a general nature affecting the six basics. Research on handling, storing, transportation, and wholesale and retail markets also benefit the six basic crops. (A detailed breakdown of the research programs for the six basic commodities and the specific locations at which performed is attached as exhibit IV.) |