Leaders from the agricultural research community are calling on Congress to prioritize USDA funding amid spending cuts.
Michigan State University AgBioResearch Director George Smith told Brownfield the uncertainty for land-grant universities today is more significant than even during the pandemic.
“It’s limiting their ability to do the work that is so important at this period of time for U.S. agriculture, given all the challenges our farmers are facing,” said Smith.
He says USDA’s grant system has come to a standstill, and some researchers are still waiting to hear progress on proposals submitted last fall.
“It’s really worth wondering how much of the money that’s already been appropriated is actually going to make it out the door,” he shares.
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture has only awarded 20 grants since January, all of which support highly pathogenic avian influenza research efforts.
Smith says 70 percent of publicly funded research is done at land-grant universities and can’t be done privately.
“Whether we’re talking about challenges related to extreme weather, whether we’re talking about challenges related to emerging pests and pathogens, and things like that, that is not research that can be readily taken up and performed by the private sector,” he explains.
Smith says the dramatic decreases proposed in President Trump’s budget could cause irreparable harm to agricultural research.
Smith joined the National Coalition of Food and Agricultural Research this past week in Washington, D.C., to urge lawmakers to support the appropriation and allocation of needed investments within the USDA.
EDITOR’S TAKE:
One of the dilemmas of balancing the federal budget is knowing there is a constituency for every program and their program is a “must have”. The trick for Congress is figuring out who has a legitimate argument and separating those from the “nice to haves”. In the case of agricultural research, it is not difficult to figure out that the argument is real, it’s legitimate and here’s why. Agricultural food production is not only a national security interest, but it is a global humanitarian and economic priority as well. U.S. agriculture is a major player when it comes to feeding the world. At home we are expected to produce more on fewer and fewer acres. To accomplish this Herculean feat requires continued investment in basic research. Most basic research occurs at our Land Grant universities. It is then disseminated vis a vis a unique system called the Cooperative Extension Service. Farmers/ranchers also help fund some of this research and then private companies provide the research to commercialize and scale the products and technologies. And, that is why we need strong support from federal and state governments – to protect our food security interests!
How can you get involved and support this effort? Contact your Land Grant institution or call your local congressional representative and express your support for maintaining funding for basic agricultural research. You could even post your efforts on your website or social media posts.
