State and federal budget deficiencies threaten land-grant research programs

In the wake of state and federal budget cuts land-grant universities may have trouble underwriting the research that has helped improve farm productivity. Those cuts threaten "to handicap U.S. agriculture's ability to double food production within 40 years and simultaneously protect the environment, leaders of land grant universities told a Farm Foundation Forum Tuesday," Marcia Zarley Taylor of DTN reports."We see states disinvesting in higher education and research all across the nation," said Dan Dooley, vice president of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of California. "Left to our own devices, I'm confident agriculture will meet the world's demand for food by 2050."

"Anyone who believes major changes aren't ahead for agriculture is living in a dream world," former Texas Congressman Charlie Stenholm told DTN. The recent budget deal halts all research earmarks and recalls $230 million budgeted for research buildings that has not been spent this fiscal year, Taylor writes. "Federal funding is at an all-time high now. Any increase in money for ag research will have to come from other sources," Stenholm said. The research budget also cuts $126 million from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and $44 million from the Agricultural Research Service.

Dooley said "the ability to do more with fewer resources and a lower environmental footprint is what society demands of agriculture in the future," Taylor writes. George Norton, an economist at Virginia Tech, told Taylor returns on public investment in ag research range from 20 percent to 80 percent, "so you do get bang for your buck." Beyond that, the intangible benefit comes when the world gains "national security through better food security," Norton said. (Read more)