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Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota,
St. Paul, MN 55108-6026
ARTICLE Science in agriculture can involve your expertise. The
opportunities for applying your cutting-edge science to problems
involving food, fiber, and the environment are becoming greater than
you ever imagined. Thus, you may be in a position to both help shape the future of food production and to tap into new funding sources. The
Board on Agriculture of the National Research Council has been taking a
fresh look at the Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant
Universities (1). The ideas examined include changes in both teaching
and research. Twenty recommendations are made relative to public
service and public policy. The Board's Committee on the Future of Land
Grant Colleges of Agriculture emphasizes many new perspectives; only a
few can be mentioned here.
The committee emphasizes the opportunities for teaching science through
agriculture. For example, do students know that "crunchiness" in
lettuce relates to its cellulose content or that the orange color of
carrots reflects the level of pro-vitamin A, beta-carotene? A
recommendation is made that "The Federal Government should expand competitive challenge grants to creative college teachers and teaching
teams to develop innovative multidisciplinary and systems-based course
material and curricula."
The report also calls on the Federal Government to significantly
increase competitive grant funding of food and agricultural research
projects to no less than the $500 million authorized by U.S. Congress
for the National Research Initiative in Agriculture, Food, and the
Environment in 1991. The program alots $94 million for 1997. This
report states that the "USDA should continue its role in enhancing
participation and success in competitive grants programs by all
institutions to build human capital nationwide in food and agricultural
research." The committee suggests that federal programs and policies
should "broaden and deepen the system's expertise and expand access
and relevancy."
This report on Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities:
Public Service and Public Policy provides, in effect, an invitation for
all scientists to consider how they can contribute their expertise in
improving the sustainability of the food and agriculture system. The
modern system includes production, processing, marketing, retailing,
and consumption FOOTNOTES
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA
Vol. 94,
pp. 1609-1609,
March 1997
From the Academy
and "the interaction of these economic activities
with natural resources and the environment, human communities and their
well-being, and consumer health, safety, and ethicsinteractions often
difficult to evaluate in economic terms, but clearly valued by
contemporary society." Nevertheless, studies indicate that returns
on the investment from agricultural research are on the order of
30-50%. Multidisciplinary research applied to agriculturally
important problems might foster even greater returns. Opportunities
await the readers of the Proceedings well beyond those
persons trained in the Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences.
REFERENCES
| 1. | Board on Agriculture, National Research Council (1996) Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities: Public Service and Public Policy (Natl. Acad. Press, Washington, DC). |
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