Name of Committee: Human Nutrition Board of Scientific Counselors Recommendations: (1) Dietary Guidelines should serve as the basis for all nutrition education programs within the Department; guidelines need to be targeted and interpreted to meet needs of special groups; Department should identify groups, their needs, and implement effective educational efforts. (2) Special concern about coordinating work of HNIS in developing education materials with needs of ES; effective coordination effort should occur from inception of an education program. Groups are urged to continue their excellent efforts in coordination and to assure that efforts are coordinated from the outset. (3) Department should provide nutrition education program at all levels to assist consumers in making informed food choices. Food industry can then be expected to respond with appropriate changes in available food products. (4) Nutrition education specialists in ES should ve integrated as regular faculty members into academic departments at land grant institutions. This will facilitate cooperation with researchers and more easily draw researchers into the process of transfer of information to the public. (5) Recommendation in "Food and Nutrition" for development of intellectual Centers of Excellence in ES nutrition programs should be implemented. Department should identify the program areas in which it wishes the Center to focus its efforts. Department should give strong consideration to providing funding for pre- and post-doctoral fellowships in nutrition education. It is recognized that implementation may require retention of a greater proportion of funds at the Federal level. Name of Committee: National Advisory Committee on Futures and Options Trading No. of Meetings: 0 Name of Committee: National Advisory Council on Child Nutrition No. of Meetings: 1 Recommendations: (1) School food authorities participating in the National School Lunch Program should promote participation in the Special Milk Program by children attending split-session kindergartens. (2) The Department should continue its efforts to reduce the burden placed on recipient agencies and State agencies while maintaining appropriate accountability for commodities utilized in processed products. (3) The Council opposes any legislative initiative to continue or expand Cash or CLOC sites. Rather, it supports the traditional commodity program and commends the Department on the many improvements in the system for better meeting the needs of the end user. (4) The Department should continue in its efforts to urge States to ensure that foods served are presented in an appetizing manner. The States should focus NET and training resources on merchandising and presentation to attract more children to the benefits of the lunch program. (5) The Department should make every possible effort to make the new recipe card file available for use in the 1987-1988 school year. (6) The Council endorses and supports the Low Income Opportunity Improvement Act and supports inclusion of the Child Nutrition Programs in the Act. (7) So long as the School Breakfast Program continues, the Council recommends that the Department continue its efforts to improve the nutritional quality of the Program. National Advisory Council on Maternal, Infant and Fetal Name of Committee: No. of Meetings: 1 Recommendations: None Name of Committee: National Advisory Council on Rural Development Recommendations: (1) USDA should lead all federal agencies in a governmentwide effort to coordinate programs that affect rural America. (2) The Secretary should establish a Departmentwide rural development agenda with central coordination and make it a primary USDA objective. He should become a spokesman for rural America, not just production agriculture. (3) A11 USDA programs related to rural development should be submitted to periodic evaluation and review to determine that they are meeting their intended objectives. (4) USDA should encourage the leadership role of State governments in the coordination of rural development priorities, initiatives and activities. (5) County extension agents should be directed to become more rural development oriented, generally with the responsibility to visit communities and their counties on a regular basis for purposes of identifying leaders and encouraging their development, helping individuals access information networks and problem solving methodologies, and providing the personal touch that can inspire individuals and communities to overcome obstacles and capitalize on opportunities. (6) USDA should encourage the development of an appropriate telecommunication infrastructure so that rural residents may benefit from the transition to an information-based economy rather than fall victim to it. A11 existing programs affecting rural development should be catalogued and communicated effectively to local users. (7) Incentives must be found to cause new business and industry to develop and relocate in rural America. (8) USDA and other governmental program resources should utilize the private sector financial services industry as the delivery system. (9) Educational, entrepreneurial and leadership development programs should be planned in partnership with government as well as the private sector. (10) USDA should work with local and State governments to inventory strengths and weaknesses and needs of rural communities. Name of Committee: National Agricultural Cost of Production Standards Review No. of Meetings: 2 Recommendations: Board (1) After critical review of the current formulations of the parity calculation, the Board recognized that current formulas do not reflect the original intent of the parity concept and that changes need to be made in the legislation. Regarding the needed changes, the Board found that the 1910-14 base period for parity is inadequate and that any other fixed base period would become inadequate, thus the Board recommended that parity prices be calculated in a manner which does not depend on the base period chosen for the parity index. (2) The Board also recommended that the "adjusted base price" concept be defined in terms of the "parity index" and that the "parity index" be defined in a way reflecting the difference in productions inputs between farm enterprises, rather than the entire spectrum of commodities, and in a way which accounts for changing farm productivity. (3) The Board recognized that the ceilings on price movements permitted under marketing orders and agreements would be influenced by changing the calculation of parity prices and should be reviewed relative to these recommendations to avoid undue adverse effects. (4) The Board recommended establishing a staff group within ERS, NASS and AMS which would develop appropriate procedures requires to implement these recommendations and that these procedures be reviewed during the next meeting of the Board. Name of Committee: National Agricultural Research and Extension Users No. of Meetings: 4 (1) Endorses the 1988 budgetary recommendations for ARS' and recommends the agency continue to improve its peer review procedures; expand internal programs to identify and reward top scientists; increase interdisciplinary research efforts; develop more dialogue with ERS; and give top priority to developing alternative uses for agricultural products. (2) Supports the spending increase for Hatch Act programs but urges that CSRS award more of the Hatch Act appropriations to projects that focus on the reduction of input costs and on quality enhancement not on increased production. (3) Supports proposed increase in Evans-Allen formula-funded research programs at historically black land grant universities. (4) Funding for competitive research grants in forestry. (5) Funding for research in support of the aquaculture industry. (6) Increase in the amount requested for competitive graduate fellowships at land grant colleges of agriculture. (7) Increased funding for competitive research grants in the areas of animal science and human nutrition. (8) A shift of funding between national and international economics research. (9) A shift of approximately $1.3 million to the area of agriculture and rural economics to fund increased research in rural development. (10) Supports the proposed budget for Smith-Lever 3(b) and (c) funding and recommends that Smith-Lever 3(d) funds be supported at the fiscal year 1987 levels for four high-priority programs: financial management, pest management, pesticide impact assessment and renewable resources. (11) Increases in the FY 1988 budget for FS in two areas: additional funds for renewable resources economic research to allow a study of the issues involved in charging fees for the use of FS lands and restoration of funding for competitive grants for forestry research. (12) That FS increase its economic research in international trade. (13) The continuation of efforts to streamline the FS research organization and reduce overhead costs. (14) Supports the FY 1988 funding for HNIS and urges the agency to implement a long-range process for setting priorities; cooperate with ES and CSRS to collect information on "grassroots" needs and develop better methods for measuring the changing marketplace; and devote additional staff time to communicating research results to the public and to other researchers. Name of Committee: National Animal Damage Control Advisory Committee |