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So the board believes that there's a balance required among com- 

 petitively reviewed grants, formula funds, and, where appropriate, 

 individual special grants. The question of balance, of course, is the 

 most difficult one to resolve, but we're pleased to be here anyway 

 this morning to help you in making that determination. 



If I could speak for a moment about a project that the board 

 hopes to begin soon, it concerns the future of the land-grant col- 

 leges of agriculture. Clearly, the competitive grants program is im- 

 portant, but if the board were only to worry about that, it would 

 be as if you built your house with the best quality nails you could 

 find and then didn't worry about the rest of the materials. So the 

 environment in which research is imdertaken, the resources avail- 

 able for research, teaching, and extension, which together charac- 

 terize the tripartite mission of the land-grant system, is also impor- 

 tant to the board. 



I think there's a consensus in the land-grant community that it's 

 at a crossroads, that there are many difficult questions to be an- 

 swered, and that it's appropriate that the board, which has a long 

 history of trying to work with the community in furthering national 

 goals, come on the stage now to conduct a study of the future of 

 the land-grant system. The primary goal of the study is not to re- 

 duce the system to individual components or to be critical, except 

 in a very positive way, and that is to ensure the continued success 

 of the system in supporting this Nation's agriculture. 



The study is conceived to have objectives which address the de- 

 scription of the system to gain an understanding of how we service 

 agriculture and consumers today. The study will analyze the col- 

 leges' role in providing instruction, performing research, and trans- 

 ferring technology. Ultimately, the expert study panel that we ap- 

 point will sjmthesize these findings in a way that permits colleges 

 to improve or adopt new methods of organization that really re- 

 spond to the situation today of constrained resources. We're taUdng 

 about the question, for example, of how colleges organize their re- 

 sources to get the job done, to achieve the mission of the land 

 grants and maintain agricultural productivity, with attention and 

 equal emphasis on quality natural resources and issues in 

 consumer food safety and quality. 



In undertaking this study, though, the board recognizes that 

 none of the outcomes or findings of the study can be imposed by 

 Federal fiat. We have a decentralized system whose strength is in 

 the States. But there is an aspect in which there's a Federal inter- 

 est. The national perspective that the board has will, one, promote 

 technology transfer among colleges which are struggling to 

 reconfigure their institutions to meet the challenges of today. The 

 study will also have implications for the Federal-State partnership 

 which has existed since the late 1800's, including the conduct of the 

 formula grants, special grants, and probably also a revisit of the 

 role of competitive grants. 



We are hopeful that we will start the study this summer. I think 

 it's worth pointing out that the National Research Council has com- 

 mitted more than $750,000 of its own fimds, of which there are 

 very few, to study this problem. I think it's probably a first in the 

 history of the National Academy of Sciences to commit such a large 



