18 



to get rid of about half to two thirds of the buildings that we have, because we 

 have scientists who are scattered all over the 7,000-acre campus, who have a 

 great deal of difficulty in interacting with those with whom they need to inter- 

 act. 



Research has moved away from being very disciplinary-oriented; for exam- 

 ple, entomologists who only need to work with entomologists. 



Our problems today in agriculture are issues such as sustainability. That 

 requires tackling these problems on a broad front with multidisciplinary 

 teams. We need to have economists. We need soil scientists. We need micro- 

 biologists and plant geneticists. All of these must work together in multidisci- 

 plinary teams to tackle these problems. 



Our difficulty at BeltsviUe, while we have the land, we have scientists scat- 

 tered all over the campus in a way that makes it difficult for that interaction to 

 occur. 



So that's one of our biggest constraints, this poor distribution of scientists. 

 And that's one of the major goals of the modernization, to be able to consoli- 

 date those scientists into fewer buildings so that those collaborations can take 

 place. 



Senator Sarbanes. I am going to have to go vote. Let me quickly put this 

 question to you. It is asserted by Dr. Martino that the Department of Agricul- 

 ture research is a prime example of mediocre or poor science. 



I had the impression that BeltsviUe was at the cutting edge of developments 

 in the agricultural sector, not only in this country, but worldwide. 



Dr. Murrell. Yes, I'd like to respond to that. For instance, at BeltsviUe, I 

 was just taking a count recendy. In the last five months, we've had five scien- 

 tists who have won national and international awards. 



The Nobel Prize in agricultural research is the Von Humbolt Award. I 

 think there have only been seven or eight of those now. Out of those, three of 

 those have been ARS scientists, one of them from BeltsviUe. 



Given the size of the Agricultural Research Service, I think that's a remark- 

 able record. 



Another measure, I think, of the quaUty of BeltsvUle is the large investment 

 by private industry and by other federal and state agencies in our research. 

 Our successes in competitive grants at BeltwvUle — we're aUowed to compete 

 for some competitive grant programs — is above the national average. We 

 doubled our competitive grants this past year. 



We have something Uke 27 cooperative research and development agree- 

 ments at BeltsvUle with private industry. The first one ever signed between the 

 Federal Government and a private company was at BeltsvUle with Embrex. 

 We have an outstanding record in that area. 



We have 129 trust agreements with private industry and other agencies. 

 These are putting money into our program to do that research for them. 

 Trust funds differ in that there's no Ucense issued, but the funds are for re- 

 search that needs to be done. 



These interests are not going to invest in any research organization that is 

 not going to deliver. I think that those are probably some of the best exam- 

 ples I can give to refute the notion that the research is mediocre. 



Senator Sarbanes. Yes. Thank you, sir. 



