31 



and the fish experiment station, all of which come under the head- 

 ing of many different departments and the influence of those dif- 

 ferent departments, and they do fit within the categories of what 

 we are most prevalent with in the delta — rice and fish farming — 

 it's interesting, and I'd like to ask Dr. Offutt, we talk about the 

 input or the exchange between public and private and the need to 

 get the knowledge out to the farmers, to the private people, and as 

 we talk about a lot recently streamlining, reorganization, and some 

 of the other areas where we want to make the services of USDA 

 and other agencies more farmer-firiendly and user-friendly, is there 

 room perhaps for a closer marriage between the different public en- 

 tities, whether it be the land-grant colleges and the universities as 

 well as the different departments that are involved in the research 

 centers that we have, to be able to collaborate and work more close- 

 ly together, again, hopefully being more cost-effective and working 

 a little bit closer as far as the different agencies are concerned? 

 Has that been addressed? 



Ms. Offutt. Well, clearly, the feeling that those kinds of gains 

 in efficiency would be possible by reorganizing how agencies and 

 institutions relate to each other was really behind what the board 

 wanted to consider in a study of the land-grant colleges. Many of 

 these colleges work, as you know, with funding from EPA, from 

 DOE, from NSF, from NIH. So really they're not as parochial as 

 the titles might sound at all, and there is much anecdotal evidence 

 for successful collaborations set up along nontraditional lines, ei- 

 ther between States, for example, or between colleges and other 

 parts of a university. We are hopeful that by taking the national 

 perspective, we'll be able to identify those kinds of collaborations 

 that might work in a number of settings. 



So I think the potential is there, and I would encourage you to 

 ask the next panel this question as well, because the/re the ones 

 who have many centers and universities to work with. They would 

 have a good perspective. 



Ms. Lambert. Thank you. 



I jdeld back the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Stenholm. Mr. Gunderson. 



Mr. Gunderson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Thank you all. I might be asking some very broad questions here, 

 but I would like to get your comments on them. I'm hesitant to do 

 this, because whenever you bring up some of these buzz words, you 

 have an avalanche of reactions. I've experienced that in my years 

 on dealing with ag research. 



But I wonder if there isn't a real disconnect in ag research in 

 this coxintry right now. As I was listening to you all and reading 

 your testimonies, it seems to me that there is a real disconnect be- 

 tween those who are doing the basic research and those who are 

 really on the cutting edge of new technology in agricultural 

 sciences. Probably I'm wrong, but if perception is reality, and I 

 think it is, I have to tell you that perception's out there. I think 

 there is a disconnect as well between what the publics do in basic 

 research and what the privates are doing. 



I think, third, there's a disconnect between academic research 

 initiatives and, frankly, what the public wants, and I just get the 

 feeling that the frustration each of you has echoed in a different 



