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 farms/materials and previously created stocks of knowledge some of which are 

 available In libraries. Scientists, technicians, and research assistants have 

 completed more than 16 years of formal schooling. In addition, scientists 

 today are a very specialized type of labor having acquired 4 to 6 years of 

 highly technical but narrowly focused post-graduate education. Furthermore, 

 regular on-the-job research experience augments their skills, which further 

 adds to their human capital stock for current and future research. Labora- 

 tories are complementary with competent and creative scientists' time, but they 

 are not good substitutes. 



Priority setting and management of public agricultural research are 

 Important but controversial areas. Systematic attempts to plan agricultural 

 research go back to the 1960s when the land- grant universities and the USDA 

 Initiated the use of scoring or ranking methods In planning U.S. agricultural 

 research. These efforts to plan for agricultural research were summarized In 

 A National Program of Research for Agriculture (USDA and NASULGC 1966). As 

 part of this activity, the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station prepared a 

 long range plan for its 19 major areas of research; 8 focused on specific 

 agricultural commodities, 6 on resources or inputs, and 4 on management and 

 marketing. A panel of scientists and administrators for each area prepared a 

 list of research opportunities and then ranked them according to their expected 

 contribution to economic growth. Although the process resulted in a long range 

 plan that was used in making project funding decisions over the next decade, It 

 was not viewed as being successful enough to continue. 



Some of the more recent advances in long-range agricultural research 

 planning are presented in Norton, Pardey, and Alston (forthcoming). They 

 suggest that a research Institution should define its objectives, which are 

 frequently multiple and embody trade-offs. They also suggest that efficiency 



