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Ag scientists plead for more cash
Story Date: 4/19/2018
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Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 4/18/18
A coalition of 16 universities with big ag research programs will gather on Capitol Hill today to appeal to lawmakers to provide more research grants by telling success stories of projects backed by federal dollars, yours truly reports this morning. Members of the group, FedByScience , are making the push after the House bill proposed to leave ag research funding largely unchanged. (The exception is a $10 million annual increase for organic research that brings total funding for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative to $30 million, a bump the committee said will primarily focus on "providing resources for combating fraudulent imports of organic products.")
The House bill's research title reauthorizes a number of programs concerning everything from ranchland to biosecurity. It would include full funding for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, requested by fruit and vegetable growers, and adds seats for California and Arizona on an advisory subcommittee focused on citrus disease. But the title doesn't help much with the arms race between the U.S. and China on ag research. China has outpaced the U.S. in research funding by a factor of 2 to 1, prompting increased warnings about the consequences for the industry if the U.S. doesn't pony up the funding needed to catch up.
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