KF27 1628 7581 Pt. 5 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS JAMIE L. WHITTEN, Mississippi, Chairman EDWARD P. BOLAND, Massachusetts NEAL SMITH, Iowa JOSEPH P. ADDABBO, New York TOM BEVILL, Alabama JOHN P. MURTHA, Pennsylvania JOSEPH D. EARLY, Massachusetts LINDY (MRS. HALE) BOGGS, Louisiana WILLIAM LEHMAN, Florida MARTIN OLAV SABO, Minnesota VIC FAZIO, California W. G. (BILL) HEFNER, North Carolina LES AUCOIN, Oregon DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii WES WATKINS, Oklahoma WILLIAM H. GRAY, III, Pennsylvania BERNARD J. DWYER, New Jersey SILVIO O. CONTE, Massachusetts J. KENNETH ROBINSON, Virginia CLAIR W. BURGENER, California JOHN EDWARD PORTER, Illinois KEITH F. MAINLAND, Clerk and Staff Director (II) AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1982 TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1981. SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH WITNESSES ANSON R. BERTRAND, DIRECTOR, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION TERRY B. KINNEY, ADMINISTRATOR, AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION WALTER I. THOMAS, ADMINISTRATOR, COOPERATIVE RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION MARY NELL GREENWOOD, ADMINISTRATOR, EXTENSION, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION LARK P. CARTER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, HIGHER EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION RICHARD A. FARLEY, ADMINISTRATOR, TECHNICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION D. MARK HEGSTED, ADMINISTRATOR, HUMAN NUTRITION, SCIENCE MARY CARTER, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH WALDEMAR KLASSEN, STAFF SCIENTIST WARREN SHAW, STAFF SCIENTIST NELSON GETCHELL, STAFF SCIENTIST GRAHAM PURCHASE, ACTING CHIEF, LVS, NPS JOHN R. VICTOR, CHIEF, BUDGET DIVISION, SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION ROBERT E. SHERMAN, DEPUTY BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OPENING REMARKS Mr. WHITTEN. The Committee will come to order. We have been holding hearings without exactly knowing what to question, because we have been looking at the budget of the previous Administration. It could not be helped, though. I have some understanding of the job which the Executive Branch has had in trying to bring its revised budget together. It has now reached the point where we will be able to proceed with a little more realistic approach. I think the members of this committee thoroughly agree and thoroughly understand that were it not for research in the Department of Agriculture, we probably would all be hungry. Most of the time you will find that research within the Department was initiated by things being done by other people. I say for the record again that where you come up with results, they are recorded in the name of the Government, and the patent is taken out in the name of the Government. There is good reason for us to have research in the Department. It is an effort from which everyone can benefit. You cannot do the whole job and should not, but you cannot sit there and hope someone else will do it. We are glad to have with us today Dr. Bertrand and Dr. Kinney. Please introduce anyone who is new to the Committee; then proceed with your statements, after which we will get into questions. Dr. BERTRAND. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure to be before the Committee again and to have an opportunity to present our Science and Education Administration budget. I believe you have met all of the people at the table with the exception of Dr. Lark Carter. Dr. Carter is heading our program in Higher Education this year. He is on loan from the Montana State University. Behind me is Dr. Mary Carter, who is Deputy Administrator of our Agricultural Research. I believe you have met the rest of the people at the table. Mr. Chairman, we sincerely appreciate the continuing support of you and this Committee. We have submitted a formal statement and with your permission I will summarize that statement. Then we will turn to Dr. Kinney for a statement concerning the agricultural research itself. Mr. WHITTEN. Without objection, your statement will appear in the record in its entirety. [CLERK'S NOTE.-Statement of Anson R. Bertrand appears on pages 154 through 160.] SEA MISSION Dr. BERTRAND. For the record, I would again like to state that the mission of the Science and Education Administration is to discover and develop new knowledge, food and agricultural sciences, and to disseminate that knowledge so that it can be used for food and agriculture production in the United States. Mr. Chairman, you have stated many times-and I am sure you were referring a short while ago to the fact that four percent of our population feeds the rest of us, and a great deal of the world. We take a great deal of pride in the credit you gave us a moment ago for the contribution that research makes to that. We are proud also that research expenditures are investments that pay. Recent studies have indicated that the annual return on dollars spent for research pays between 30 and 40 percent annual return. That is a pretty good return these days. We are also proud of the fact that our research and education contribute to our ability to export and to help meet the balance of payments problem that confronts us all, as well as contributes to the well-being of people in the Nation as a whole. It has a favorable impact on inflation fighting. The Congress has appropriated additional funds in 1981. This has permitted us to take some new initiatives in integrated pest management, in germplasm, animal diseases, land and water management, aquaculture, and human nutrition. We feel that the excellence that has been developed in the food and agriculture research system in the USDA and in our land grant colleges can be sustained if we continue. Again, we are very, very grateful to the Committee and to the Congress for its support. The challenge ahead of us is very great. We are all aware of the strategic importance of agriculture. We are facing an increased population. We are facing a trade deficit. We are losing our topsoil faster than we should. We are losing good agricultural acres to nonagricultural uses. We are dependent upon petroleum, and agriculture is very vulnerable to that concern. We have also some responsibility in research for our human nutrition, consumer safety, and the environment. The thrust of our budget requests last year and again this year principally is aimed toward productivity and doing the research that is necessary for sustaining the productivity of American agriculture. We take a great deal of pride in the fact that our research and education programs are cooperative. The USDA could not do the job alone. We do not believe that the land grant universities and private industry could do the job alone. We have a partnership and we have a system that is nearly 100 years old. We are very proud to be a part of that partnership. We feel that it contributes more because it is a cooperative undertaking between the Department of Agriculture and the land grant universities. We are pleased that the 1977 Farm Bill gave us an opportunity to interact more directly with the non-land grant community. One area that troubles us some is the area of the cadre we will have for meeting the needs of food and agriculture research and education in the future. So we are very mindful of the needs for increased training in our universities. BUDGET REVISIONS Mr. Chairman, I believe that each of you on the Committee has received a summary of the revisions that this Administration has recently made in the budget that was submitted to the Congress in January. [The information follows:] SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION FY 1982 Revised Budget A net increase of $13,558,000 is proposed for the agency under the Administration's revised budget request in FY 1982 to bring the total request to $1,019,306,000 for FY 1982. As a comparison, $1,005,748,000 was submitted to the Congress last January and $940,319,000 was being provided in FY 1981. The additional funding underscores the Administration's commitment to further strengthen food and agriculture research and education efficiency as an integral component of its strategy to stimulate economic recovery. The Administration's FY 1982 revised budget proposes the following adjustments by SEA unit: |