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ARS facilities include a wide spectrum of research 

 enterprises, ranging from very large operations such as the 

 national laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland and the four new uses 

 regional laboratories to very small labs with less than five 

 scientists at work in places like Lewisburg, Tennessee and 

 Woodward, Oklahoma. Facilities not generally associated with 

 "mainstream" agricultural research, such as the National Arboretum 

 and outposts in France and the Virgin Islands, are also ARS 

 facilities. It is the diversity of ARS facilities that makes the 

 task of evaluating them very difficult. Site visits are often 

 required to understand fully the various operations. 



Several years ago. Congress also began funding universities, 

 primarily but not exclusively land grant universities, to assist in 

 the construction of agricultural research facilities on school 

 campuses. Each year, the proportion of overall facility funds 

 dedicated to new university facility construction has increased. 



Since the beginning of our national agricultural research 

 program, there has been a strong link between federal and state 

 activities. Currently, the Cooperative State Research Service 

 (CSRS) works with land grant universities and State Experiment 

 Stations to conduct research; thus facility funds are funneled to 

 the states through CSRS. With few exceptions, states are required 

 to match the federal funds dollar for dollar. Unlike ARS 

 facilities, once these university facilities are constructed, it is 

 the responsibility of the states to operate and maintain them. 



A. Problems at Existing Facilities 



Many existing ARS and university facilities are old and poorly 

 maintained. During this Subcommittee's March 25, 1993 hearing. Dr. 

 Dr. James Kloek, Chairman of the National Agricultural Research and 

 Extension Users Advisory Board (UAB) highlighted many problems with 

 existing ARS facilities. My analysis of the data, some of it 



