(c) An increase of $600,000 for research on germplasm ($10,309,000 available in FY 1981).

Need for Change: Plant germplasm is the base for all applied breeding programs which develop new varieties and hybrids. Germplasm variability is imperative if breeders are to develop new, unique, productive plants for insuring a stable, plentiful, future supply of high quality food, feed and fiber. Two aspects of germplasm collection are critical. First, germplasm must be adequately collected and preserved in specialized storage facilities to guard against loss or damage. Second, the germplasm must be managed so that the entries are described accurately and completely, and are evaluated, replenished and distributed to users in a timely manner. The influx of material has far exceeded the capabilties of the National Plant Germplasm System to effectively discharge these essential functions. Concurrently, time is running out on our ability to prevent the rapid erosion and loss of natural genetic diversity through loss of wild habitat, pollution, and replacement of local varieties and land races by new, high yielding varieties most frequently grown in monoculture. Extinction of species is currently on a scale without precedence. Once lost, natural genetic diversity can never be retrieved. This increase in funding will provide impetus to the high priority effort of preserving and fully utilizing our germplasm heritage.

Nature of Change: Increased funding will be used to provide new support to critical elements of the National Plant Germplasm System, which is under the guidance and review of the National Plant Genetic Resources Board established by the Secretary of Agriculture. The Board fully represents the Federal, State, and industry sectors of American agriculture. All germplasm programs involve joint planning, responsibility, and decision-making to assure that valuable seed and clonal materials are fully protected and utilized. Specific use of the funds will be to improve the USDA World Small Grain Collection, support the International Performance Nursery for Wheat Improvement, and to strengthen the Regional Plant Introduction Stations through general upgrading and maintenance, and for increased germplasm evaluation. Additional funds are being allocated to the State agricultural experiment stations through SEA-CR Special Grants for maintenance of special genetic and cytogenetic stocks. (d) An increase of $1,160,000 for tropical and subtropical agricultural research. ($2,865,000 available in FY 1981).

Need for Change: Research in this program supplies the link between
basic research conducted in the U.S. primarily for Temperate Zone
agriculture, and the technical needs of those producers located in
Subtropical and tropical regions controlled by U.S. and developing
countries. The 1980 USDA Users Advisory Board recommended that SEA
and its cooperators participate more actively in agricultural tech-
nical assistance for increasing food production and availability to
hungry developing nations. This program, authorized by Sec. 406 of
the 1966 Foreign Assistance Act, has, since its inception, been
the USDA's only independent legal authority for this type of work.
The objectives of this program are to develop appropriate crop
production systems with pest and stress resistant varieties; pest
management systems, cultural practices, rotations, mixed and multiple
cropping; and new technology for handling soil and water resource
problems to increase efficiency of agricultural production in tropical
and subtropical areas of the world to help meet current and future
food, feed, and fiber needs.

The program is managed by SEA-AR in cooperation with participating land-
grant universities involving two regional advisory groups (the Pacific
Basin Advisory Group and the Caribbean Basin Advisory Group) and a
National Advisory Group, that are composed of officials from USDA and
U.S. universities. These groups plan and coordinate the program and

oversee the review of projects and selection of project proposals. Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are currently the primary State agricultural experiment station participants. Additional research is needed to support and complement agricultural and food programs in view of recent legislation extending several Federal programs to American Samoa, Micronesia, and Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.

Nature of Change: Increased funding is for the development of germplasm and varieties of tropical and subtropical commodities resistant to diseases, insects, and environmental stresses; integrated pest management systems adapted to tropical and subtropical conditions; and commodity treatments to allow shipment of fresh fruits and vegetables. A substantial portion of this request will be used to support and strengthen existing programs at the Mayaguez Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and elsewhere in the Caribbean Basin, and to initiate production research to meet the specific needs of American Samoa, Micronesia, Guam, and the Northern Marianas to develop expanded food production as quickly as possible at these locations. This increase will permit new initiatives in the Pacific Basin.

(e) An increase of $500,000 in biological control research for Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of diseases, insects, nematodes, and weeds ($7,999,000 available in FY 1981).

Need for Change: Biological control is often the most environmentally
acceptable and economically feasible means of dealing with serious pest
problems. Biological control has the potential to be the cornerstone
of many IP systems. There are about 30 examples in the United States
in which biological control has solved insect and weed problems without
the need for any supplemental control with pesticides or other methods.
There are several fold more examples of insect problems having been
significantly ameliorated by the introduction of beneficial insects
from aboard.

Nevertheless, very little systems research has been conducted to incorporate biological control agents into IPM systems. For example, there is not one documented example of the use of biological control as a component in an integrated nematode management system; and only one documented example of the use of biological control in an integrated weed management system. Similarly, there is only one documented case of the joint use of biological agents and resistant cultivars to manage a plant disease. Nature of Change: In order to assure the incorporation of biocontrol agents into the four regional IPM systems for major commodities, research will be conducted to accomplish the following objectives:

-- Develop the use of natural enemies of soilborne diseases of wheat
for use in IPM systems.

Develop the use of insect pathogens as components of IPM systems
for rangeland and cropland grasshoppers.

Develop the use of biocontrol agents as components of IPM systems for rangeland weeds.

-- Develop the use of biocontrol agents as components in IPM systems for insecticide-resistant Colorado potato beetles.

(f) An increase of $400,000 for Pesticide Impact Assessment (PIA) ($675,000 available in 1981).

Need for Change: Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) pesticides must be periodically evaluated for human health and environmental effects. This is accomplished through a formal procedure known as RPAR (Rebuttable Presumption Against Registration).

Pesticides have a key role to play in protecting our essential agricultural and forestry production. Objective pesticide registration and reregistration decisions must be based on accurate analyses of the benefit and risk consequences of pesticide use to man and the environment. These are necessary if we are to continue to have effective pesticides available to ensure adequate levels of agricultural and forestry production.

Data must, however, first be available before accurate and objective decisions can be made. The regulatory options proposed by EPA for RPAR'd compounds have focused primarily on the calculated level of exposure of applicators, mixers/loaders, field workers, or the general public. Thus, the lack of empirical information on exposure has been critical in the case of all pesticides RPAR'd to date. Other important data gaps relate to benefits (quality and yield data, use and economic information); environmental risk (aquatic and wildlife impacts, fate and runoff); and residues (soil and crop).

Since the start of the program, USDA and its cooperators have established assessment teams for 26 pesticides identified for the RPAR process and for 5 pesticides for which RPAR's have not yet been issued. These 31 teams have involved the participation of some 300 scientists from Federal agencies, State Experiment Stations, State Fxtension Services, State Departments of Agriculture, and others. Currently, 20 reports have been completed and 11 assessments are in process. These studies have shown that the potential short-term adverse economic impact of the cancellation of the first 20 pesticides is over $1 billion per year. Also, State and Federal research scientists have conducted over 300 laboratory experiments, field trials, and other studies to obtain information relating to efficacy, crop yields and quality, exposure, environmental concerns and pesticide use.

Nature of Change: Funds will be used for the following purposes:

-

-

Initiate up to 20 short- and long-term research studies each year to provide experimental data on exposure of people to pesticides and on environmental effects.

Form 8 to 10 teams to obtain pesticide use information on:
crop yield and quality information, pesticide exposure
information under field use conditions for applicators,
mixers/loaders and bystanders, and wild life and environmental
effects.

- Assess potential effects of regulatory decisions by commodity. (9) An increase of $1,200,000 for research in support of the APHIS plant pest control programs ($11,894,000 available in FY 1981).

Need for Change: APHIS is charged with preventing the entry and spread of dangerous pests (insects, nematodes, plant pathogens and weeds) in the U.S. The Plant Protection and Quarantine programs of APHIS include international and emergency efforts to maintain the Nation's first line of defense against foreign pests. For example, APHIS is currently involved in an extensive effort to stop the northward movement of the Mediterranean fruit fly in Mexico.

APHIS needs the capability to rapidly and reliably identify pests,
to eliminate pests which hitchhike on aircraft, ships, trucks, etc.,
to destroy pests within commodities by means of safe fumigation or
other procedures, and to be able to assess the potential for foreign
pests to spread into various regions of the U.S. and to cause damage.

If the Mediterranean fruit fly or the poisonous weed, altrombrilla, were to enter and reach their ecological limits in the U.S., serious damage would result. The fruit fly would cause an estimated million acres of citrus and other commodities to require area-wide insecticide treatment at least 10 times per year. An additional 10 million acre equivalent of backyard fruit trees would be infested and would require various levels of protection with insecticide. Alfrombrilla, a poisonous weed that kills cattle, would have to be controlled by herbicides on each acre infested to prevent further spread.

In order for the U.S. to maintain and expand its export markets, many
commodities must be fumigated so that foreign countries can permit their
entry without the risk of importing dangerous pests. Ethylene dibromide
and to some extent methyl bromide have been used for this purpose.
There is an urgent need to find alternative fumigants because the
organic bromide residues in food are considered to pose a potential
health hazard.

Freons which are used as propellants in aerosol cans are believed to threaten the stratospheric ozone layer which shields the earth from excessive ultraviolet radiation. Clearly, new safety propellants are needed. In addition new insecticides are needed which can be introduced into aircraft without risk to the passengers in order to kill hitchhiking insect pests.

Of the several million species of insects and nematodes that exist,
about one percent are significant pests. APHIS needs practical
taxonomic aids for distinguishing the pests from the innocuous
invertebrates.

Nature of Change: Additional funds will be used for the following
purposes:

-

Improve mass production and release of sexually sterile
Mediterranean fruit flies, and improve technology for detecting
and trapping this pest.

Expand efforts to assist APHIS in identifying insects and
nematodes.

-- Determine the ecological areas of adaptations of alien
noxious weeds in the United States, develop technology to
reduce their chances of entry and spread, and develop control
systems.

-- Discover and develop quarantine treatments with alternative
fumigants to replace the organic bromides, with emphasis on
tropical fruit flies.

-

- Develop aircraft disinsectization techniques with alternative propellants to replace the freons and with new safer insecticides. (h) An increase of $200,000 for research to facilitate registration of pesticides for minor uses ($868,000 available in FY 1981).

Need for Change: Recent amendments to the Federal Insecticide Fungicide
and Rodenticide Act require periodic reregistration of pesticides for
al uses.
The data needed to establish that the benefits of minor uses
e, ed the risks frequently do not exist. Consequently, there are now
more than 800 minor use needs for which registration data are required.
In order to meet this need, USDA/SEA/AR laboratories work with State
Agricultural Experiment Stations in Interregional Project No. 4 (IR-4).

Only modest progress has been made by industry in registering microbial
agents, pheromones and other biorational pesticides. Much greater
commitment by industry would likely occur if the public sector would
supply a larger portion of the safety and environmental data needed
for registration of biorational pesticides.

Nature of Change: The increase funds will be directed to the
following objectives:

-- Increase the capability to obtain the pesticide residue data
needed to establish national tolerances on food crops.

-- Obtain data on efficacy of pesticides and on their propensity
to injure minor food crops and nursery and floral crops.

-- Obtain data on safety and environmental effects of microbial
agents and specialty chemicals.

(i) An increase of $400,000 for improving security at the U. S. National Arboretum ($162.000 available in FY 1981).

(j)

(k)

Need for Change: The existing facilities and manpower at the U.S. Arboretum in Washington, D. C., are inadequate to provide the necessary security that is essential to safeguard the visiting public and protect U. S. Government property and irreplaceable plant specimen possessions of the U. S. National Arboretum. There has been a significant increase in crimes against persons and property at this location which have resulted in substantial property losses and damage as well as major assaults and injuries to the visiting public.

Nature of Change: The increase of $400 thousand will provide for vital security both in terms of physical improvements at the U.S. National Arboretum and development and strengthening of the security staff. It will also provide for the renovation of a 30 year old perimeter fencing system for additional security and safety of visitors and plant specimens.

An increase of $5,394,000 to provide for increased operating costs in plant production efficiency research.

Need for Change: Additional funding is essential to maintain the current level of program effort in crop productivity and crop protection research to improve the quality and production efficiency of food, feed, forage and fiber crops; florist and nursery crops; rangelands and turfs. Costs of ful, supplies, equipment, utilities and other items used by researchers have risen sharply in recent years. The additional funds requested will provide some relief in meeting these increased costs and ensure that high priority research programs are not seriously disrupted.

Nature of Change: This increase will undergird facilities and staff
operations. It will support ongoing programs and allow managers the
flexibility to address crucial priority issues and respond to
unanticipated problems of national importance.

A decrease of $1,048,000 to eliminate production-related tobacco
search ($5,190,000 available in FY 1981).

Need for Change: This proposed decrease reflects the Department's
policy to concentrate efforts on the health and safety aspects of tobacco
research rather than production oriented aspects of tobacco research.
It is felt that greater benefit to the health and safety of our Nation's
population can be derived by concentrating Federal research efforts on
health and safety aspects of tobacco.