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NASULGC initiative partially included in farm billPlan would consolidate research, education and extension agencies into one entity
Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the Research Title of the 2007 farm bill. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns called for the consolidation of research, extension and education agencies and programs within USDA. Among other suggestions, Johanns recommended that the Agricultural Research Service and the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service be combined into a single new science agency, the Research, Education and Extension Services. The USDA proposal mirrors closely the initiative developed by NASULGC's Board on Agriculture Assembly for creation of a National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The proposal, labeled CREATE-21 (Creating Research, Extension, and Teaching Excellence for the 21st Century), would combine ARS, CSREES, the Economic Research Service and the U.S. Forest Service R&D into a single super-agency reporting directly to the Secretary of Agriculture. NASULGC's Vice President for Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ian L. Maw, stated, "Today's announcement confirms that the land-grant university's partners have been on the right track during the past two years. We have worked diligently on a proposal to update and expand the federal-state partnership that conducts, funds, and oversees the national food and agricultural science agenda. Bringing the personnel, funding, functions, and program managers of these now separate agencies into a single entity will eliminate program duplication, reduce budgetary and operating inefficiencies. It will more closely integrate USDA's intramural research efforts with the extramural research, extension, and education work performed at America's land-grant and related universities." As drafted, CREATE-21 goes beyond what the Administration has proposed in that it also includes substantially increased funding for food, agricultural, and natural resources research, teaching, and extension. "We are pleased that other portions of the Administration's farm bill proposal do call for stepped-up funding for research on renewable fuels and specialty crops. Nonetheless, we feel that broader and greater increases in funding are needed to address many other pressing problems, such as obesity and avian flu," Maw said. For additional information on CREATE-21, visit www.create-21.org. 0 None None Date: 3/22/07
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