102 



BY 



DR. C. PETER MAGRATH 



PRESIDENT, 



NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE UNIVERSITIES 



AND LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 



Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the subcommittee, I am C. Peter Magrath, F*resident 

 of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULXJC). I 

 am pleased to submit this testimony to emphasize again the critical national problem of the 

 erosion suffered by our national agricultural research infrastructure due to funding neglect 

 over the past two decades. 



In my statement today, I will (1) summarize the current status of die problem, (2) comment 

 briefly on the present methods of ^propriating funds for agricultural research facilities, and 

 (3) summarize the earlier proposal made jointly by USDA and NASULGC for a competitive 

 grants program to partly fund such facilities. 



The Problem: Modem agriculture is science-based. Just as our current capacity to produce 

 rests on knowledge developed in the past, the ability of American agriculture to meet the 

 future challenges of nature and global markets will depend on the quality, quantity and 

 availability of new research knowledge. And, just as current knowledge and technology were 

 achieved through prior agricultural science and education investments, future knowledge will 

 depend on the investments we make now and in the near term. These investments include 

 support for ongoing and future agricultural research, the training of talented agricultural 

 scientists, and for the research tools ~ laboratories and equipment needed by agricultural 

 scientists to conduct relevant quality research. 



Unfortunately, every analysis of the national effort in agricultural science and education 

 concludes that we are underinvesting in all three areas of education, research and extension. 

 Here, I will focus on the special problem of research infrastructure ~ the buildings, facilities 

 and equipment that are requisite for quality research. Clearly, the condition and capacity of 

 the national research infrastructure is a major factor in the efficiency and effectiveness of 

 research and in recruiting quality graduate students. M^jor investments are needed now to 

 assure future research capacity as well as to secure a strong and vital education effort 

 for the future. 



