joint council on food and agricultural sciences

joint council on food and agricultural sciences Sec. 1407. (a) The Secretary shall establish within the Department of Agriculture a committee to be known as the Joint Council on Food and Agricultural Sciences which shall have a term of five years. (b) The Joint Council shall be composed of representatives from the Department of Agriculture and those of its agencies with significant research and extension responsibilities, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the land-grant colleges and universities, State agricultural experiment stations, State cooperative extension services, and those colleges and universities, other public and private institutions, producers, and representatives of the public who are interested in and have a potential to contribute, as determined by the Secretary, to the formulation of national policy in the food and agricultural sciences. The Joint Council shall be jointly chaired by the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture responsible for research, extension, and teaching, and a person to be elected from among the non-Federal membership of the Joint Council. (c) The Joint Council shall meet at least once during each three- month period. At least one meeting each year shall be a combined meeting with the Advisory Board. (d) (1) The primary responsibility of the Joint Council shall be to foster coordination of the agricultural research, extension, and teaching activities of the Federal Government, the States, colleges and universities, and other public and private institutions and persons involved in the food and agricultural sciences. (2) The Joint Council’s responsibilities shall also be to— 91 STAT. 987 (A) provide a forum for the interchange of information among the organizations represented by the members of the Joint Council that will assure improved awareness among these organizations concerning the agricultural research, extension, and teaching programs, results, and directions of each organization; (B) analyze and evaluate the economic, environmental, and social impacts of agricultural research, extension, and teaching programs conducted in the United States and determine high priority agricultural research areas, and submit annual reports identifying such high priority research areas to the Secretary; (C) develop and review the effectiveness of a system, for use by the Secretary, of compiling, maintaining, and disseminating information about each federally supported agricultural research or extension project and, to the maximum extent possible, information about private agricultural research and extension projects conducted by colleges and universities, foundations, contract research groups, businesses, and others. Information about private agricultural research and extension projects shall not be included in this system unless they are partially or entirely funded by the Federal Government or the organizations sponsoring the projects agree to the inclusion of information about such projects; (D) assist the parties in developing, reviewing, and evaluating memoranda of understanding or other documents that detail the terms and conditions between the Secretary and the participants in agricultural research, extension, and teaching programs under this Act and other Acts; (E) assist the Secretary in carrying out the responsibilities assigned to the Secretary under this title through planning and coordination efforts in the food and agricultural sciences that utilize an effective system of regional and national planning, and by the development of recommendations and reports describing current and long-range needs, priorities, and goals in the food and agricultural sciences and means to achieve these goals; (F) develop, and review the effectiveness of, guidelines for use by the Secretary in making competitive grants under section 2(b) of the Act of August 4, 1965 (79 Stat. 431; 7 U.S.C. 450i), as amended by section 1414 of this title; and (G) prepare and submit to the Secretary, not later than December 31 of each year, a statement of recommendations which shall include— (i) the Joint Council’s recommendations as to unified national, regional, or interstate agricultural research, extension, or teaching programs to be implemented during the following fiscal year, delineating suggested areas of responsibility for Federal and State agencies in carrying out such programs, and the overall planning, evaluation, coordination, and support necessary for such programs, and (ii) a summary of agricultural research, extension, and teaching achievements made during, and the status of ongoing projects as of the end of, the prior fiscal year, with respect to the programs conducted by the organizations represented by the members of the Joint Council. Minority views, if timely submitted, shall be included in the submission. The Secretary shall submit copies of the statement to the Subcommittee on Food and Renewable Resources of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology, and the Advisory Board.