Science Policy Report

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15 September 2021

In This Issue:

Policy News

Science and Society News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Policy News

The House Agriculture Committee’s piece of the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package will include billions of dollars for USDA to manage national forests, upgrade biofuel infrastructure, and conduct climate research. About $7.75 billion would go toward agricultural research and infrastructure, including $380 million for the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority, and $250 million for USDA’s climate hubs. Notably, the draft text did not include provisions related to conservation and farm debt relief, which are still being finalized by members of the committee. Read the full article.
 

The legislation before the House science committee authorizes 5- and 10-year spending plans for agencies under its jurisdiction, which include DOE, NSF, NASA, NOAA, and NIST. The increases are aimed at boosting research across many disciplines, including efforts to combat climate change and bolster innovation. The bill is separate from a $1 trillion package of infrastructure spending approved last month by the Senate and pending in the House. The legislation is also distinct from stand-alone bills passed in June by the House that authorize future spending levels for specific programs at NSF and DOE. Read the full article.
 

The legislation before the House science committee authorizes 5- and 10-year spending plans for agencies under its jurisdiction, which include DOE, NSF, NASA, NOAA, and NIST. The increases are aimed at boosting research across many disciplines, including efforts to combat climate change and bolster innovation. The bill is separate from a $1 trillion package of infrastructure spending approved last month by the Senate and pending in the House. The legislation is also distinct from stand-alone bills passed in June by the House that authorize future spending levels for specific programs at NSF and DOE. Read the full article.
 

The White House has issued a memorandum outlining the administration’s research and development priorities that federal agencies should include in their budget proposals for fiscal year 2023. The multiagency R&D priorities listed in the memo are pandemic readiness and prevention; tackling climate change; research and innovation in emerging and critical technologies; innovation for equity; and national security and economic resilience. For addressing climate change, priorities are climate science, innovation in clean energy technologies and infrastructure, climate adaptation and resilience, monitoring and measurement and nature-based climate solutions for mitigation and adaptation. Read the full article.
 

Science and Society News

In situ networks that monitor soil moisture have been growing in recent years as the public recognizes the value of knowing the state of soil moisture. The large number of networks, remote-sensing platforms, and models that produce soil moisture products are based on different methods and have a complex array of assumptions and characteristics, which makes it difficult to compare them. An independent group of researchers and scientists, in collaboration with the National Integrated Drought Information System, developed a strategy to coordinate these diverse networks and data sources, providing a comprehensive and harmonized set of data products. The resulting strategy summarized in Vadose Zone Journal is the first step in the development of a community of practice to inform multi-agency, multi-state coordination of soil moisture product development from various sources. Read the full article.
 

On September 22-29, the Crop Science Society of America is celebrating the 4th annual Crop Wild Relative Week. Find links to all guest blogs, web stories about crop wild relatives, videos, and other scientific information. The science of these wild and weedy cousins is important for food security. Share the links on your social platforms to help spread the word! Learn more here.
 

A 2020 study projects that 40% of irrigated lands in the Central High Plains and 54% of Southern High Plains will be unable to support irrigated agriculture by the end of the century due to a drop in water levels of the Ogallala Aquifer. Federal officials are encouraging farmers in a “Dust Bowl zone” to preserve and restore grasslands to prevent wind erosion as irrigation becomes more difficult. Read the full article.
 

The National Science Foundation announced six new science and technology centers to advance ambitious, complex research in fields ranging from mechanobiology to particle physics to climate change. The centers will focus on establishing new scientific disciplines and developing transformative technologies that have the potential for broad impacts on science and society. Several of the new centers focus on topics related to Earth science and sustainability. Read the full article.
 

Mendota, a small town in California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley advertises itself as the “Cantaloupe Center of the World.” But as relentless drought punishes California and the West, the land is drying up and the cantaloupes are disappearing. Climate change and a devastating heat wave have decimated towns like Mendota this summer, and the carnage stretches far beyond fruit. Read the full article.
 

It was a typical day managing 1,800 cows and 2,500 acres on one of the four grass-based organic dairies that make up the Alexandre Family Farm, based in Crescent City, California, in the far northwest corner of the state. At a time when large dairy companies ranging from Danone to General Mills and Stonyfield Organic are investing in regenerative practices for their farmers in hopes of reducing their industry’s sizable carbon footprint, Alexandre is among a small number of dairies that have embraced regenerative agriculture, boosting soil health and biodiversity, without access to corporate support. Read the full article.
 

Taking place virtually on Thursday, September 23, the Summit will serve as a historic opportunity to empower all people to leverage the power of food systems to drive our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and get us back on track to realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda. Don’t miss your opportunity to be alongside leaders, experts, and stakeholders from around the world to leverage the power of our food systems and capture all the Summit events on our virtual platform. Learn more and register here.
 

On behalf of the Golden Goose Award, an annual award honoring federally funded research with silly-sounding or obscure beginnings that has gone on to have enormous societal impact, we invite you to join us for our 2021 Golden Goose Award Ceremony. In our tenth year, we are thrilled we can once again recognize three teams of researchers whose work demonstrates how scientific and technological advances that result from foundational scientific research supported by the federal government can profoundly impact society in unforeseen ways. Please join us virtually on September 22 at 4pm ET to celebrate these achievements. Register here.
 

International Corner

The Netherlands’ Wageningen University announced it will provide non-profits with free licenses to use its patented CRISPR-Cas gene-editing technology for noncommercial applications in food and agriculture. CRISPER-Cas has been lauded as a unique and versatile tool to accelerate plant breeding and sustainably feed the world. While charging license fees to protect intellectual property is the norm and can be lucrative in this rapidly expanding field, these licensing agreements often serve to put cutting-edge technologies out of reach for research institutions in low-income countries. Wageningen is just one of the few universities and publicly funded research institutions that—quite unusually—holds the majority of existing CRISPR patents. Read the full article.
 

The Philippines has approved the commercial propagation of genetically modified Golden Rice after more than a decade of field tests that drew strong opposition from anti-GMO activists. The Southeast Asian country, which is one of the world’s biggest rice importers, is the first nation to approve the Vitamin A-enriched grain for commercial cultivation, according to the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), which helped develop Golden Rice. Read the full article.
 

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

DOE SC (SC) hereby invites applications for support under the Early Career Research Program in the following program areas: Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR); Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Fusion Energy Sciences (FES); High Energy Physics (HEP); Nuclear Physics (NP); Isotope R&D and Production (DOE IP); or Accelerator R&D and Production (ARDAP). The purpose of this program is to support the development of individual research programs of outstanding scientists early in their careers and to stimulate research careers in the areas supported by SC. SC’s mission is to deliver the scientific discoveries and major scientific tools to transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. SC is the Nation’s largest Federal sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences and the lead Federal agency supporting fundamental scientific research for our Nation’s energy future. Pre-application deadline, October 21. Read the full announcement.
 

The USDA SBIR program focuses on transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial potential and/or societal benefit. Unlike fundamental research, the USDA SBIR program supports small businesses in the creation of innovative, disruptive technologies and enables the application of research advancements from conception into the market. Projects dealing with agriculturally related manufacturing and alternative and renewable energy technologies are encouraged across all SBIR topic areas. USDA SBIR's flexible research areas ensure innovative projects consistent with USDA's vision of a healthy and productive nation in harmony with the land, air, and water. The USDA SBIR program has awarded over 2000 research and development projects since 1983, allowing hundreds of small businesses to explore their technological potential, and providing an incentive to profit from the commercialization of innovative ideas. Deadline, November 3. Read the full announcement. 
 

Scientific research into complex coastal systems and the interplay with coastal hazards is vital for predicting, responding to, and mitigating threats in these regions. Understanding the risks associated with coastal hazards requires a holistic Earth Systems approach that integrates improved understanding of and, where possible, predictions about natural, social, and technological processes with efforts to increase the resilience of coastal systems. The Coastlines and People program supports diverse, innovative, multi-institution awards that are focused on critically important coastlines and people research that is integrated with broadening participation goals. The objective of this solicitation is to support Coastal Research Hubs, structured using a convergent science approach, at the nexus between coastal sustainability, human dimensions, and coastal processes to transform understanding of interactions among natural, human-built, and social systems in coastal, populated environments. Deadline, December 6. Read the full announcement.
 

The Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) awards Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB) to recent recipients of the doctoral degree for research and training in selected areas supported by BIO and with special goals for human resource development in biology. For applications under this solicitation, these areas are (1) Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology, (2) Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes, and (3) Plant Genome Postdoctoral Research Fellowships. The fellowships encourage independence at an early stage of the research career to permit Fellows to pursue their research and training goals in the most appropriate research locations in collaboration with sponsoring scientists. Fellowships are awards to individuals, not institutions, and are administered by the Fellows. Deadline, December 6. Read the full announcement.
 

The AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program supports grants in six AFRI priority areas to advance knowledge in both fundamental and applied sciences important to agriculture. The six priority areas are: Plant Health and Production and Plant Products; Animal Health and Production and Animal Products; Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health; Bioenergy, Natural Resources, and Environment; Agriculture Systems and Technology; and Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities. Research-only, extension-only, and integrated research, education and/or extension projects are solicited in this Request for Applications (RFA). Deadline, December 15. Read the full announcement.
 

Sources: Politico; ScienceInsider; ExecutiveGov; The White House; Associated Press; NSF; Washington Post; Civil Eats; United Nations; AAAS; WUL News; Reuters; USDA; 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.

This page of the ASA-CSSA-SSSA web site will highlight current news items relevant to Science Policy. It is not an endorsement of any position.