80 



superstructures. This would allow us to demolish many of the deteriorated buildings 

 and to consolidate our research and support personnel into about one-third of the 

 number of current buildings. For example, our Climate Stress Laboratory is currently 

 housed in nine buildings, making inter-unit collaboration extremely difficult. Consoli- 

 dation would allow us to achieve much needed program clustering, centralized services 

 and energy savings. One of our most pressing needs is a larger Human Nutrition Re- 

 search facility, which would allow us to increase the size of human nutrition trials. 

 Larger study groups would enable us to include a wider genetic diversity among the 

 human subjects. The existing facility greatly restricts the size of these nutrition studies, 

 making it difficult to take advantage of the great human genetic diversity found in the 

 Baltimore-Washington Area. With the opening of the Metro Station at Greenbelt, 

 BARC is conveniently located to draw upon this large population for badly needed 

 research on the influence of genetics on nutritional requirements, a serious gap in our 

 national nutritional recommendations. 



I want to again thank the Committee for allowing me an opportunity to express 

 my concern over the plight of one of our Nation's great research treasures. The mis- 

 sion of BARC and the commitment of its people to tackle the most important national 

 agricultural and nutritional problems remains strong. However, our serious facility de- 

 ficiencies impede our progress. Mr. Chairman, while I have focused primarily on 

 BARC, it is important to note that the problems are illustrative of facilities throughout 

 the Agricultural Research Service. The Agency's has projected facility needs to the turn 

 of the century-only a little over 6 years from now-to be over three quarters of a bil- 

 lion dollars. I know that the leaders of the other Federal research facilities that are 

 also appearing before this Committee share my hope that the help we need to con- 

 tinue our service to this Nation and its people will be found and that this assistance 

 will be recognized as one of our most important and wise investments for the future. 



Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I will be pleased to respond 

 to questions. 



