findings

findings Sec. 1402. Congress finds that— (1) the Federal Government of the United States has provided funding support for agricultural research and extension for many years in order to promote and protect the general health and welfare of the people of the United States, and this support has significantly contributed to the development of the Nation’s agricultural system; (2) the agencies conducting such federally supported research were established at different times in response to different and specific needs and their work is not fully coordinated; (3) these agencies have only been partially successful in responding to the needs of all persons affected by their research, and useful information produced through such federally supported research is not being efficiently transferred to the people of the United States; (4) expanded agricultural research and extension are needed to meet the rising demand for food and fiber caused by increases in worldwide population and food shortages due to short-term, localized, and adverse climatic conditions; (5) increased research is necessary to alleviate inadequacies of the marketing system (including storage, transportation, and distribution of agricultural and forest products) which have impaired United States agricultural production and utilization; 91 STAT. 982 (6) advances in food and agricultural sciences and technology have become increasingly limited by the concentration upon the thorough development and exploitation of currently known scientific principles and technological approaches at the expense of more fundamental research, and a strong research effort in the basic sciences is necessary to achieve breakthroughs in knowledge that can support new and innovative food and agricultural technologies; (7) Federal funding levels for agricultural research and extension in recent years have not been commensurate with needs stemming from changes in United States agricultural practices and the world food and agricultural situation; (8) new Federal initiatives are needed in the areas of— (A) research to find alternatives to technologies based on fossil fuels; (B) research and extension on human nutrition and food consumption patterns in order to improve the health and vitality of the people of the United States; (C) research to find solutions to environmental problems caused by technological changes in food and agricultural production; (D) aquacultural research and extension; (E) research and extension directed toward improving the management and use of the Nation’s natural and renewable resources, in order to meet the increased demand for forest products, conserve water resources (through irrigation management, tail water reuse, desalination, crop conversion, and other water conservation techniques), conserve soil resources, and properly manage rangelands; (F) improving and expanding the research and extension programs in home economics; (G) extension programs in energy conservation; (H) extension programs in forestry and natural resources, with special emphasis to be given to improving the productivity of small private woodlands, modernizing wood harvesting and utilization, developing and disseminating reliable multiple-use resource management information to all landowners and consumers, and the general public, wildlife, watershed, and recreational management, and cultural practices (including reforestation, protection, and related matters); (I) research on climate, drought, and weather modification as factors in food and agricultural production; (J) more intensive agricultural research and extension programs oriented to the needs of small farmers and their families and the family farm system, which is a vital component of the agricultural production capacity of this country; (K) research to expand export markets for agricultural commodities; (L) development and implementation, through research, of more efficient, less wasteful, and environmentally sound methods of producing, processing, marketing, and utilizing food, fiber, waste products, other nonfood agricultural products, and forest and rangeland products; (M) expanded programs of animal disease and health care research and extension; 91 STAT. 983 (N) research to develop new crops, in order to expand our use of varied soils and increase the choice of nutritional and economically viable crops available for cultivation; and (O) investigation and analysis of the practicability, desirability, and feasibility of using organic waste materials to improve soil tilth and fertility, and extension programs to disseminate practical information resulting from such investigations and analyses; and (9) the existing agricultural research system consisting of the Federal Government, the land-grant colleges and universities, other colleges and universities engaged in agricultural research, the agricultural experiment stations, and the private sector constitute an essential national resource which must serve as the foundation for any further strengthening of agricultural research in the United States.