INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION, 1959-79 427 



ranging and were focused on a recent report on the subject by the 

 Federal Council on Science and Technology. Most of the hearings were 

 directed at domestic concerns, yet occasionally there were clear impli- 

 cations for world trade, international cooperation, and the comparative 

 technological standing of the United States vis-a-vis other nations. At 

 first blush, it might seem the agricultural research area might be more 

 domestic in nature, but in fact the hearings blossomed out into consid- 

 erations of the world food problem. The Thornton subcommittee 

 teamed up with the Subcommittee on Science, Research and Tech- 

 nology chaired by Congressman Symington, extended the hearings 

 into September and October and also held field hearings in Texas, 

 Arkansas, and Missouri. The two subcommittees used the unique 

 technique of publishing an "Interim Report' ' for widespread discussion 

 purposes, followed by a final report with 15 recommendations for the 

 improvement of agricultural research to meet emerging world food 

 needs. The two subcommittees agreed that the Malthus doctrine and 

 predictions that increasing population would outrun food supply 

 might be too extreme. But they concluded it was vital that national 

 leaders should start thinking more seriously about the problems 

 Malthus first analyzed in 1798. 



One of the recommendations of the Thornton subcommittee was: 



Competitive procedures for the award of agricultural research grants should be 

 more widely employed. 



IMPACT OF THORNTON SUBCOMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS 



The subcommittee recommended that the Department of Agri- 

 culture, instead of just giving so much money to land grant colleges 

 and agricultural experiment stations, should adopt the system utilized 

 by the National Science Foundation whereby proposals would be sub- 

 mitted and judged competitively on their merits. This is precisely what 

 was done, with an alumnus of the National Science Foundation trans- 

 ferring to the Department of Agriculture to help set up the new system. 



The Thornton subcommittee was also successful in getting the 

 Department of Agriculture to reorient its research to provide more 

 support for those areas vital to future U.S. and world food needs. An 

 additional mark of the effectiveness of the subcommittee was the fact 

 that Dr. Holmfeld was detailed on loan to the House Committee on 

 Agriculture in 1977, where he drafted the research section of the mas- 

 sive legislation passed that year. Dr. Holmfeld then had an opportunity 

 to capitalize on the information elicited and the recommendations 

 made in such areas as establishing competitive grants and reorienting 

 agricultural research. 



