Science Policy Report

Address all comments to the Science Policy Office at:
sciencepolicy@sciencesocieties.org

29 September 2021

In This Issue:

Policy News

Science and Society News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Policy News

President Biden announced 30 of America’s most distinguished leaders in science and technology as members of his President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). PCAST is the sole body of external advisors charged with making science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the President and the White House. President Biden’s PCAST includes 20 elected members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, five MacArthur “Genius” Fellows, two former Cabinet secretaries, and two Nobel laureates. Its members include experts in astrophysics and agriculture, biochemistry and computer engineering, ecology and entrepreneurship, immunology and nanotechnology, neuroscience and national security, social science and cybersecurity, and more. The members represent the most diverse PCAST in U.S. history. Read the full announcement. 
 

With the end of the fiscal year just a few days away, Congress is in a mad dash to avoid a government shutdown before the September 30 deadline. Initially, House Democrats put forward a measure that would hold government funding steady for fiscal year 2022 AND raise the debt limit. It was a move that was predestined to fail since Senate Republicans had been saying for months they would oppose raising the debt ceiling and the measured failed in the Senate on Monday. Forced to decouple negotiations for government funding and from suspending the debt limit, Senate Democrats are putting a forward a simple continuing resolution (CR) to avoid a shutdown and fund the government through December 3. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, has indicated the debt limit could be reached as early as October 18, giving Democrats just a few weeks to either garner 10 Republican votes to raise the debt ceiling or suspend the debt limit through a Democrat-only reconciliation measure.

 

As part of the AFRI Coalition, ASA, CSSA, and SSSA sent a letter to Congressional leadership in support of the $7.75 billion for USDA research in the House Agriculture Committee reconciliation proposal. The letter highlighted the $500 million in additional funding proposed for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and emphasized the transformative impact that level of funding could have on American agriculture enterprise. Read the letter here.
 

Science and Society News

Register by October 1 for Early Bird pricing for the Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City or the Limited Virtual Meeting, November 7-10. It’s the premiere opportunity for professionals working in agronomic, crop, soil, and related sciences to hear about the latest research, meet and learn from their peers, expand their knowledge base, and take advantage of an abundance of networking opportunities to enhance their career. Covid protocol rules, full refunds, and the preliminary program are available! Learn more and register here. 
 

Agriculture is a major factor in the Biden Administration’s plan to greatly reduce greenhouse gases, but how can we create a system that works for both producers and the many other entities interested in carbon sequestration? Carbon sequestration is tied to soil health, and soil health is incentivized differently based on relationships among producers, government programs, nonprofits, and third-party organizations. Here, we’ll take a look at the landscape of soil health incentives, from government conservation programs to non-profits, inset practices, and carbon market offsets. Read the full article.
 

September 20-24 was #PeerReviewWeek21, a virtual community-led global event celebrating the essential role that peer review plays in maintaining scientific quality. The event brings together individuals, institutions, and organizations committed to sharing the central message that good peer review, whatever shape or form it might take, is critical to scholarly communications. Hear from ASA, CSSA, and SSSA members about the importance of peer review and how you can contribute to this cornerstone of scientific integrity.

 

The Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture is a collaboration between AAAS, RMF, and the World Food Prize Foundation. The annual lecture welcomes distinguished speakers to explore the environmental and societal challenges facing our planet through the lens of agricultural innovation and its applications in a global context. This year’s virtual lecture will focus on zoonotic diseases and the role of agricultural research in preventing future pandemics. Attend the virtual lecture on Thursday, September 30 from 2:30-4:00pm EDT. Learn more and register here.
 

USDA is committed to partnering with agriculture, forestry and rural communities to develop climate solutions that strengthen rural America. Secretary Vilsack announced a new initiative to finance the deployment of climate-smart farming and forestry practices to aid in the marketing of climate-smart agricultural commodities. Guided by science, USDA will support a set of pilot projects that provide incentives to implement climate smart conservation practices on working lands and to quantify and monitor the carbon and greenhouse gas benefits associated with those practices. The pilots could rely on the Commodity Credit Corporation’s specific power to aid in expansion or development of new and additional markets. The Department published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public comment and input on design of new initiative. Read the full announcement.
 

A boy showcasing his bug collection at the Kansas State Fair last week didn’t know it, but he had a rare and dangerous specimen lurking in his midst. His find has triggered state and federal investigations. The spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula, is an invasive species that has been wreaking havoc for years out east. But no infestations have made it farther west than southeastern Indiana. The spotted lanternfly feeds on a variety of crops, including grapes, apples, hops, walnuts and hardwood trees. The waste it excretes encourages a fungal growth called sooty mold, which can kill plants by blocking sunlight from reaching their leaves. Experts fear the continued spread of spotted lanternflies could severely hurt the country’s grape, orchard and logging industries. Read the full article.
 

Imagine flying from Los Angeles to the Washington, D.C. region on a plane fueled with American farm products or forestry waste. Sounds farfetched? Well, it is already becoming a reality. Thanks to U.S. production of sustainable aviation fuel, airlines can help address climate change and create rural jobs by using this fuel option. That’s why USDA, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Energy announced a “Grand Challenge” to support the production of 35 billion gallons of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) per year by 2050. Read the full article.
 

Cover crops are widely seen as one of the most promising conservation practices, improving soil health while also removing carbon from the atmosphere. But while the number of Midwestern farmers planting cover crops has increased markedly in recent years, 2017 USDA Census data show only about 5 percent have adopted the conservation practice. The reluctance of the other 95 percent may be due, in part, to a perception that cover crops require more effort and may also negatively affect summer cash crop yield. New University of Illinois research integrates field data and advanced mathematical modeling to understand how cover crops affect soil water, nitrogen, and oxygen dynamics, and may compete with summer cash crops. Read the full article.
 

While soil moisture is a fundamental driver of plant growth, key roadblocks limit the use of measured soil moisture data in grassland yield models. Novel methods of using soil moisture for this purpose have not been developed. Plus, existing mechanistic models that rely on precipitation-based water balance estimates of soil moisture were not designed to assimilate measured soil moisture data. In Agronomy Journal, researchers report quantified statistical relationships between in situ soil moisture data and grassland-biomass yield in Oklahoma. Read the full article.
 

Farmers, golf course managers and lawn-lovers across the nation are under attack. The enemy is about the length of two postage stamps, mean, sometimes green and certainly hungry. Battalions of fall armyworms are eating their way through fields and crops — sometimes overnight. Entomologists say they haven’t seen an outbreak this aggressive since the 1970s, and while it’s too early to be certain, climate change could be playing a role in the scourge of caterpillars munching through crops east of the Rockies. Read the full article.
 

To explore the complex interactions between the natural world and society and enhance our understanding of Earth’s systems — the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and the individuals, institutions, and technologies that respond to and influence these dynamics — the National Science Foundation should create a next-generation Earth systems science initiative, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Attend the public webinar on the report on Wednesday, October 6 at 3pm EDT. Read the full article.
 

International Corner

After 16 years, Europe’s largest economy will no longer be led by someone with a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a former scientist, will step down following parliamentary elections on 26 September, and all three politicians vying to replace her studied law. Yet scientists have little to worry about, at least in terms of research funding. Annual rises of 3% are locked in through 2030, and all the major parties vouch for the importance of science. The competing parties differ on other issues, however, including how to promote innovation and biomedical research, and how to address climate change, one part of Merkel’s legacy that many scientists are disappointed with. Read the full article.
 

Quantifying soil carbon is essential: soils with high organic matter are healthy and buffered against extreme weather. Such soils are a win-win for society as they produce large, stable yields and act as a storage pool for soil carbon, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions. In much of the world, lab-based analysis of soil carbon is prohibitively expensive while online soil carbon maps are unreliable for informing management and policies within communities, watersheds, and individual farms. Researchers tested an inexpensive, open source, field-portable reflectometer to estimate soil carbon. Read the full article.
 

Insect-resistant brinjal, or eggplant, is arguably the most impactful project to bring agricultural biotechnology to resource-poor farmers. Studies show that Bangladesh farmers, who began growing Bt brinjal commercially in 2014, have enjoyed a sizable increase in income, a receptive market and significantly reduced pesticide use. It is now on its way to commercialization in the Philippines, where it was recently approved for human food and livestock feed. Read the full article.
 

The United States has a long history in international agricultural extension, with mixed results. A new policy brief from the Chicago Council’s Gloria Dabek argues that the climate crisis necessitates a new extension agenda that prioritizes farmer needs and preferences and promotes climate resilience and adaptation. US policy should reflect this new extension agenda to ensure farmers have the tools to succeed in providing for themselves, and ultimately, feeding the world. Read the full article.
 

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

The intent of the 1890 COEs Program is to provide support for Centers of Excellence that were originally established in 2015 in conjunction with the 125th Anniversary of the Second Morrill Act of 1890. The 1890 COEs are hosted by 1890 Land-Grant Institutions with the goals of: 1) increasing profitability and rural prosperity in underserved farming communities; 2) addressing critical needs for enhanced international training and development; and 3) increasing diversity in the science, technology, engineering, agriculture and mathematics (STEAM) pipeline. Deadline, November 17. Read the full announcement.
 

The program's focus is on both the discovery, as well as on building and testing models that elucidate these principles and processes. Research proposals should focus on understanding the determinants of transmission of diseases to humans, non-human animals, or plants; the spread of pathogens by environmental factors, vectors or abiotic agents; the population dynamics and genetics of reservoir species or alternate hosts; or the cultural, social, behavioral, and economic dimensions of disease transmission. Deadline, November 24. Read the full announcement.
 

NLGCA Institutions may use the funds: (a) to successfully compete for funds from Federal grants and other sources to carry out educational, research, and outreach activities that address priority concerns of national, regional, State, and local interest; (b) to disseminate information relating to priority concerns to interested members of the agriculture, renewable resources, and other relevant communities, the public, and any other interested entity; (c) to encourage members of the agriculture, renewable resources, and other relevant communities to participate in priority education, research, and outreach activities by providing matching funding to leverage grant funds; and (d) through: (1) the purchase or other acquisition of equipment and other infrastructure (not including alteration, repair, renovation, or construction of buildings); (2) the professional growth and development of the faculty of the NLGCA Institution; and (3) the development of graduate assistantships. Deadline, November 22. Read the full announcement.
 

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Research Cooperation. The MOU provides an overarching framework to encourage collaboration between U.S. and Israeli research communities and sets out the principles by which jointly supported activities might be developed. The MOU provides for an international collaboration arrangement whereby U.S. researchers may receive funding from the NSF and Israeli researchers may receive funding from the BSF. The goal of this U.S.-Israel collaborative research opportunity is to help reduce barriers for collaborative projects between U.S. and Israeli scientists. Through a lead agency model, NSF and BSF allow U.S. and Israeli researchers to submit collaborative proposals that will undergo a single review process at NSF, which acts as the lead agency. The NSF Directorate of Geosciences (GEO) Divisions of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (EAR, OCE, and AGS, respectively) and their constituent programs participate in this opportunity. Proposals responding to this opportunity should be submitted to the GEO core program that best fits the science proposed. Proposals accepted at any time. Read the full announcement.
 

The Biology Integration Institutes (BII) program supports collaborative teams of researchers investigating questions that span multiple disciplines within and beyond biology. Integration across biological disciplines is essential if we hope to understand the diverse and ever-increasing data streams of modern biology and tackle emergent questions about living organisms and the environment. Of equal importance is the need for groundbreaking and sustainable training programs that prepare the next generations of scientists to navigate the breadth of biological sciences, training in multiple disciplines without sacrificing depth of learning or innovation. In addition, the biology community must continue to develop practices and adopt strategies that leverage rapid advances in cyberinfrastructure and other technologies to bridge and integrate across subdisciplines and make resources accessible, re-usable, and adaptable for unanticipated purposes. In these ways, Biology Integration Institutes will focus on biological themes that enable the discoveries of life's innovations. The outcomes from biological integration will inspire new biotechnologies and applications to drive our bioeconomy and provide solutions to societal challenges. While this solicitation focuses on the integration of biological subdisciplines, any field beyond biology may be included as needed to address the overarching biological theme. Deadline, January 12. Read the full announcement.
 

This solicitation invites submission of collaborative proposals that tackle bold questions in biology and require an integrated approach to make substantive progress. Integrative biological research spans subdisciplines and incorporates cutting-edge methods, tools, and concepts from each to produce groundbreaking biological discovery. The research should be synergistic and produce novel, holistic understanding of how biological systems function and interact across different scales of organization, e.g., from molecules to cells, tissues to organisms, species to ecosystems and the entire Earth. Such knowledge is critical to inform solutions to societal challenges, including natural resource management, resilience to environmental change, and global food security. Outcomes from integrative research will also inform and guide the development of new technologies that drive the nation's bioeconomy. Deadline, January 25. Read the full announcement.
 

Sources: The White House; ScienceInsider; CNN; Politico; Reuters; AAAS; USDA; Washington Post; University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne ACES NEWS; National Academies; Alliance for Science; The Chicago Council; NSF

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.