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III. ARS Program Strategy— 1992-1998 



Areas of research emphasis fur ARS during (he 1992 lo I99t( period respond lo high- 

 priority problems identified by scientists, internal ARS program evaluation, users, new 

 legislation, appropriations, action and regulatory agency concerns, and executive branch 

 initiatives. 



Base Program Objective 1. Son. water, and Air 



Improved production systems for reducing the degradation of water quality by 

 agricultural chemicals and controlling erosion under low<rop-residue conditions. 



Strategies for off-site control of chemical buildup in ground water. 



Technologies for improving chemical application efficiencies; using agricultural, 

 municipal, and industrial wastes to improve soil productivity: and delineating land 

 areas vulnerable to soil degradation. 



Methods for assessing the effect of potential global climate change on water and 

 energy fluxes, water resources, and the health and sustainability of agroecosystems; 

 for quantifying agriculture's contribution to the fluxes of greenhouse gases: and for 

 facilitating conservation tillage. 



Evaluation and optimization of no-till and other conservation tillage and residue 

 management systems to increase soil organic matter, innitration. and soil biological 

 activity and to reduce runoff, erosion, evaporation, and drought damage. 



Objective 2. Plant Productivity 



• Enhancement of plant germplasm by genome manipulation at the molecular level and 

 of plant genetic resources to overcome productivity barriers in major crops. 



• Technologies for controlling fundamental biological processes relating to productivity, 

 market quality, and production costs: long-and short-term acquisition and preservation 

 of plant germplasm: and detection at the molecular level of pathogens in propagative 

 material. 



• Methods for nondestructive testing of seed viability and composition and for environ- 

 mentally safe pest control with acceptable health risk. 



• Management systems for sound ecosystem maintenance and water use on important 

 range, pasture, and crop lands (including horticultural crops): weed and plant disease 

 control: and areawide control of high-priority pests. 



• Development of a relational database for the National Plant Germplasm System. 



