most other science categories. All efforts are 

 complementary when examined in detail. 



Table 1. Distribution of full-time equivalent research scientists 

 (scientist-years) in the U. S. Department of Agriculture and 

 State agricultural and forestry research organizations, FY 

 1975. 



Research Agency 



or 



Organization 



Full- Time 



Equivalent 



Research Scientists' 



Numver 



%of 

 total 



USDA: 



Agricultural Research 



Service 2,910 27 



Economic Research 



Service 425 4 



Farmers Cooperative 



Service 23 < 1 



Forest Service 941 9 



Statistical Reporting 



Service 15 <1 



STATE:' 



Agricultural Experiment 



Stations 6,133 57 



Forestry Research 



Organizations 143 1 



1890 Land Grant Univer- 

 sities and Tuskegee 

 Institute 143 1 



Total 10,732 100 



'Individual values may not agree with totals tiecause of rounding 

 ^Supported in part by the Cooperative State Research Service (CSRS) of 

 USDA 



Source: USDA 



phenomena or to provide additional fundamental 

 information needed for progress on a more ap- 

 plied problem. In many cases, such research areas 

 as photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and insect 

 behavior are pursued because of their explicit 

 value and broad potential for application. Occa- 

 sionally, pursuit of an applied problem generates 

 a new area of explicit basic research. An example 

 of this is R.W. Holleys experiments to under- 

 stand how nutrient elements are moved from the 

 soil into foods and feeds, a practical problem, 

 which eventually led to his elucidation of the 

 structure of ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, 

 for which he was awarded a Nobel prize. 



Basic research in the agricultural research sys- 

 tem varies considerably among the broad science 

 categories and within the biological sciences 

 among the types of subjects being researched. 

 Table 3 shows the allocation of funds for basic 

 research by science category and the relative pro- 

 portion of the total funds for the category that the 

 basic funds represent. In actual magnitude, bio- 

 logical sciences receive more basic research funds 

 than any other science category, and plant-orient- 

 ed sciences account for at least 50 percent of 

 these funds. However, human-oriented and other 

 biological sciences have a much higher proportion 

 of total funding allocated to basic studies. 



Overall, during the past 10 years, basic research 

 in the total agricultural research system has re- 

 ceived increased support in terms of both actual 

 and constant dollars. However, the proportion of 

 basic to other research has remained more or less 

 constant. The changes that have occurred in pro- 

 grams of individual performing organizations are 

 summarized in Table 4. 



Definition of Basic Researcfi 



Role of Basic Research 



For purposes of documenting agricultural re- 

 search in the computerized current research infor- 

 mation system (CRIS), basic research is distin- 

 guished as "research with the primary goal of 

 gaining knowledge or understanding of a sub- 

 ject." Research that has as its primary goal the 

 application of knowledge to meet a recognized 

 need or to produce useful products is excluded 

 from "basic." 



Within the agricultural system, basic research is 

 generally inseparable from other research in both 

 planning and conduct. This system is highly de- 

 centralized. Much research of individual scientists 

 is predominantly problem-oriented and usually 

 developed for a timeframe of five years or less. 

 Basic aspects, however, are often incorporated to 

 answer the "how's" and "why's" of observed 



In developing an overall research strategy for 

 the agricultural and forestry system, scientists and 

 managers give consideration to all areas of re- 

 search in the continuum from the most basic to 

 the most applied. The strategy is to allocate avail- 

 able resources over time among problem areas in 

 this basic-applied research continuum in such a 

 way as to make a maximum contribution to their 

 missions. In the process of determining appropri- 

 ate levels of support at any point in time for dif- 

 ferent areas of research, basic research is viewed 

 by research planner-administrators as having the 

 following functional roles in the continuum of 

 research activities: 



1. Creating new knowledge that will be useful 

 in advancing future agricultural research at 

 the basic or applied levels, or in advancing 



AGRICULTURE 



