Science Policy Report

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21 July 2021

In This Issue:

Policy News

Science and Society News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Policy News

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA have been working with Senate Agriculture Committee Chair, Debbie Stabenow (D, MI) and other agricultural stakeholders to develop an agriculture infrastructure request to be included in any forthcoming infrastructure proposals. Last month, the Societies joined 151 scientific and agricultural groups asking Congress and the Biden administration to support a $40 billion investment in agricultural research, innovation, and agricultural research infrastructure. Ag research champions in both the House and Senate have also signed-on to a Dear Colleague Letters supporting the $40 billion investment request.

The House Appropriations Committee has spent the past several weeks marking up the dozen spending bills on largely party-line votes. The proposed next step in the fiscal year 2022 funding process is a $617 billion “minibus” package combining seven of the FY 2022 spending bills. House leadership is urging the chamber to take up the Agriculture, Energy-Water, Financial Services, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD measures in one bundle the week of July 26. That’s about 40 percent of the proposed operating budgets for federal agencies next year. The remaining five bills –Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Homeland Security, Legislative Branch and State-Foreign Operations — could be taken up later. However, that might be a stretch since the remaining bills all have issues that could potentially divide the Democratic caucus. Read the full article.

A battle is brewing in the U.S. Congress over a little-known program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) that provides money to states that fare poorly in the agency’s funding competitions. Last month the Senate approved legislation that would devote 20% of NSF’s overall budget to the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), which serves 25 states and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If enacted, it would immediately boost EPSCoR’s spending 10-fold, to some $2 billion per year. But many research advocates are wary of expanding EPSCoR so dramatically. They favor a bill passed last month by the House of Representatives that proposes a different way to increase the geographic diversity of NSF’s funding. Read the full article.

As the founder and president of the American Conservation Coalition, which organizes young Republicans around free-market climate change solutions, Benji Backer is part of an emerging effort on the right to win over environmentalists. A rally in June featured Republican speakers including former U.S. representatives Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (both from Florida), Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. It was time, they said, for the right to leave behind climate denial and offer real fixes. Read the full article.

The U.S. food and agriculture sectors are key contributors to our economy. A 2021 study shows that these sectors account for roughly one-fifth of the country’s economic activity, directly supporting nearly 20 million jobs and constituting 13% of U.S. employment. Almost 41 million jobs are indirectly supported by the food and agriculture sectors, with total output reaching $7 trillion. This success is built on a strong foundation of agriculture research and development (R&D) investments over much of the last century. A recent study found that U.S. public food and agriculture R&D spending from 1910 to 2007 returned, on average, $17 in benefits for every $1 invested. Increasing agricultural R&D funding will give our farmers, ranchers, producers, and foresters the tools they need to improve resiliency and scale up climate-smart agriculture. Read the full article.

Science and Society News

The Sustainable Agronomy Conference provides Certified Crop Advisers (CCAs) and Agri-Sales Professionals with the opportunity to more fully understand and implement sustainable agronomy in the field. The 2021 conference includes a four-part virtual Conservation in Action Tour by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC). Each of the four tours will include a video from the field that includes interviews with farmers, CCAs, researchers and other experts, followed by a live panel discussion/Q&A. Join for Session Two: Measuring and Improving Soil Health July 27, 11am-1pm CT. Visit the conference website to for the full program and to register.

Subsurface drainage is an essential water management practice for many poorly drained soils in the Midwestern United States and around the world, but this practice also contributes nitrate loads to surface waters. To sustain agricultural productivity in these regions, a systems approach needs to be implemented for designing drainage systems and managing drained lands, meeting both crop yield and water quality goals. New Journal of Environmental Quality research reports on a long-term study of subsurface drainage and cropping management practices in southeastern Indiana. Drain flow and nitrate losses per unit area were greatest for the 5-m spacing and lowest for the 20-m spacing. Cover crops reduced nitrate concentrations and losses in the drain flow. The results underscore the interacting effects of drainage design, crop management, and weather in determining the magnitude of N loss from drained agricultural fields. Read the full article.

A new breed of hydroponic farm, huge and high-tech, is popping up in indoor spaces all over America, drawing celebrity investors and critics. These huge farms grow produce in nutrient-rich water, not the healthy soil that many people believe is at the heart of both deliciousness and nutrition. They can consume vast amounts of electricity. Their most ardent opponents say the claims being made for hydroponics are misleading and even dangerous. Read the full article.

The U.S. National Science Foundation has selected Alexandra Isern to be the next assistant director of its Directorate for Geosciences, or GEO. She has spent the last 20 years at NSF serving in various roles within three divisions of the directorate, including leading the Surface Earth Processes and Antarctic Sciences Sections and serving a two-year stint with the National Science Board. Isern had been serving as acting assistant director since June. Prior to that appointment, she served as the deputy assistant director for geosciences and as section head of the directorate's Antarctic Sciences Section. Read the full article. 

As you read this, there are about 150 goats grazing their way through the grass and woodland areas surrounding Fitch Mountain, a local open space preserve in Healdsburg, California, an hour north of San Francisco. The goats will be there for the next few months, eating down the grasses and shrubs that would act as fuel for wildfires across 90 acres. In a historically dry year, when nearly everyone in the West is bracing for another destructive wildfire season, these animals could be playing a key role in preventing the worst-case scenario. They get rid of the the “ladder fuels,” reducing the potential for burning ground cover to spread to the trees. And they also help protect the people and property in Healdsburg, which has seen major wildfires to the east and the west in recent years. Read the full article.

Since their introduction in the mid-1990s, G.M.O.s have remained wildly unpopular with consumers, who see them as dubious tools of Big Ag, with potentially sinister impacts on both people and the environment. The purple tomato could perhaps change that calculation. Unlike commercial G.M.O. crops — things like soy and canola — it wasn’t designed for profit and would be grown in small batches rather than on millions of acres: essentially the opposite of industrial agriculture. The additional genes it contains (from the snapdragon, itself a relative of the tomato plant) act only to boost production of anthocyanin, a nutrient that tomatoes already make. More important, the fruit’s anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties, which seem considerable, are things that many of us actively want. Read the full article.

What if all it took to make a dent in agriculture’s contribution to climate change was to pay farmers not to farm? That’s the theory behind the recent expansion of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a decades-old initiative that has emerged as a central tool in the Biden administration’s effort to achieve net-zero emissions in the agriculture sector. CRP spends nearly $2 billion annually on payments to farmers who have taken some or all of their acres out of crop cultivation and planted grasses or trees instead. The Farm Service Agency, which administers the program, boasts of a range of benefits for air, water, soil, and wildlife, including reportedly sequestering as much as half of the carbon dioxide emitted in the farming sector each year. Read the full article.

Climate change is on the minds of many consumers, with near-daily headlines calling out weather extremes and trends, and new national climate policy priorities. According to the latest Illuminate Digital Cultural Insights report from The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) consumers are concerned that extreme weather and other hazards linked to climate change could affect the food supply and threaten their way of life. Read the full article.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory participated in a study that shows innovation in technologies and agricultural practices could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from grain production by up to 70 percent within the next 15 years. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, the study identifies a combination of readily adoptable technological innovations that can significantly reduce emissions and fit within current production systems and established grain markets. Read the full article.

The World Food Prize Foundation and the Iowa Hunger Summit recognize that hunger is inextricably linked to structures in the social, political, and economic landscape in which we all live. The 15th Annual Summit will focus on transformations within our food systems and the changes needed to end hunger and food insecurity in our state. The one-day virtual Summit on September 1, will offer the opportunity to engage in dialogue and foment ideas around providing access to healthy food for all. Register today.

International Corner

In March this year, the United Nations accepted India’s proposal to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets. This coarse and ancient cereal has been recognized for its climate-resilient characteristics, the potential to solve global nutritional security challenges, and as a sustainable alternative to major cereals. While millet advocates point to its many benefits such as nutrition and hardy characteristics, breaking the hierarchy of cereals that have dominated the market and our plates for decades isn't going to be easy. Millet does not benefit from subsidies, research, or investments that major crops do. Moreover, as was seen when superfoods like quinoa became popular, there are ethical considerations when foods that are largely consumed by marginalized communities in a local context suddenly find themselves in a mainstream, global market. Read the full article.

A long-term drought that has hit two-thirds of Mexico looks set to worsen in coming weeks, with forecasts warning of high temperatures, crop damage and water supply shortages on the horizon, including in the populous capital. Experts are sounding the alarm that parched crops could under-produce as temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104F) on Wednesday in some parts of northern Mexico, including key farming areas. Read the full article.

Agrichemicals giant Syngenta Group is rapidly expanding its rollout of farm services in China ahead of a huge stock market listing, as it seeks to meet surging demand from farmers crucial to Beijing's increasing focus on food security. The world's biggest crop-protection maker and No. 3 seed supplier says it is boosting grain yields and raising farmers' incomes just as the pandemic fuels government worries about food supplies and pushes up the cost of key farm materials. Read the full article.

In yet another big win for its smallholder farmers, Kenya has become the first country globally to approve national performance trials of genetically modified (GM) cassava. The improved crop, which was genetically modified to provide resistance to the destructive cassava brown streak disease (CBSD), was developed by the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).  Cassava now becomes Africa’s fifth biotech crop approved for open cultivation after cotton, maize, soybean and cowpea. Read the full article.

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

The NSF recognizes the importance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to the Nation’s STEM enterprise. With this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) the HSI Program encourages proposals to convene current Principal Investigator (PI) teams in an HSI Program PI conference that will (1) promote effective strategies to improve undergraduate STEM education at HSIs and (2) build and maintain a PI community. It is anticipated that the HSI Program PI Conference will be attended by at least one PI team member from each active project, NSF Program Officers, prospective HSI PIs, and organizations whose goals and mission are aligned with the NSF HSI Program. Proposals should describe plans to document and communicate new knowledge within the HSI community, including plans to prepare and share a comprehensive report on the conference proceedings. As the awardee will be responsible for planning and managing the PI conference, and providing the necessary infrastructure to support it, the proposal should address previous experience hosting virtual and face-to-face activities. Deadline, August 25. Read the full announcement. 

Professional Development Program Grants, known as train-the-trainer grants, are available to help further education and outreach strategies for ag professionals and ag educators who work directly with farmers and ranchers. The grant funds training activities that educate ag professionals in up-to-date strategies and technologies to help farmers and ranchers increase profits and lessen environmental impacts. PDP grants support such activities as producing workshops, creating educational manuals and videos, or conducting on-farm tours and demonstrations. Preproposal deadline, August 31. Read the full announcement.

The Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) Program is now accepting applications for the 2022 Spring Term. The SULI program encourages undergraduate students and recent graduates to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers by providing research experiences at the Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories. Selected students participate as interns appointed at one of 17 participating DOE laboratories/facilities. They perform research, under the guidance of laboratory staff scientists or engineers, on projects supporting the DOE mission. The SULI program is sponsored and managed by the DOE Office of Science’s, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) in collaboration with the DOE laboratories/facilities. Deadline, October 6. Read the full announcement.
 

With a focus on two-year Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program supports the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy. The program involves partnerships between academic institutions (grades 7-12, IHEs), industry, and economic development agencies to promote improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary institution school levels. The ATE program supports curriculum development; professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathways; and other activities. The program invites applied research proposals that advance the knowledge base related to technician education. It is required that projects be faculty driven and that courses and programs are credit bearing, although materials developed may also be used for incumbent worker education. Deadline, October 14. Read the full announcement.

Climate variability and change present society with significant economic, health, safety, and security challenges. As part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate portfolio within the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), the Climate Program Office (CPO) addresses these climate challenges by managing competitive research programs through which high-priority climate science, assessments, decision-support research, outreach, education, and capacity-building activities are funded to advance our understanding of the Earth’s climate system, and to foster the application and use of this knowledge to improve the resilience of our Nation and its partners. Through this announcement, CPO is seeking applications for eight individual competitions in FY22. Several of these competitions are relevant to four high-priority climate risk areas CPO is focusing on to improve science understanding and/or capabilities that result in user-driven outcomes: Coastal Inundation, Marine Ecosystems, Water Resources, and Extreme Heat. Deadline, October 18. Read the full announcement.

The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is a National Science Foundation-wide program that provides Fellowships to individuals selected early in their graduate careers based on their demonstrated potential for significant research achievements in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) or in STEM education. GRFP supports individuals proposing a comprehensive plan for graduate education that takes individual interests and competencies into consideration. The plan describes the academic achievements, attributes, and experiences that illustrate the applicant's demonstrated potential for significant research achievements. The applicant must provide a detailed profile of their relevant education, research experience, and plans for graduate education that demonstrates this potential. Three years of support over a five-year period are provided for graduate study that leads to a research-based master's or doctoral degree in STEM or STEM education. Deadline varies based on program, October 18-22. Read the full announcement.

This call for proposals by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) is for planning grants for Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) that transform the results of cutting-edge, use-inspired/purpose-driven, fundamental research on Earth processes into concepts, tools, utilities, and research products of collective interest to entities in the private sector, government, and other interested parties. The NSF IUCRC Program is a nationally recognized vehicle that provides funding to institutions of higher education to help their faculty build public-private partnerships in areas that advance sectors of the economy impacted by solid earth, atmospheric, oceanographic, polar, geospace, and other geoscience related topics. IUCRCs provide significant funding to support students and postdocs that work on Center-related projects, all of which are jointly agreed upon by Center faculty and Center membership. Preliminary proposal deadline, September 8. Read the full announcement.

Sources: RollCall; Washington Post; ScienceInsider; Agri-Pulse; New York Times; NSF; Civil Eats; Mother Jones; Center for Food Integrity Blog; Phys.org; Devex; Alliance for Science; Reuters; SARE; NOAA; DOE-SC;

Vision: The Societies Washington, DC Science Policy Office (SPO) will advocate the importance and value of the agronomic, crop and soil sciences in developing national science policy and ensuring the necessary public-sector investment in the continued health of the environment for the well being of humanity. The SPO will assimilate, interpret, and disseminate in a timely manner to Society members information about relevant agricultural, natural resources and environmental legislation, rules and regulations under consideration by Congress and the Administration.

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