50 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Fischer appears at the conclusion 

 of the hearing,] 

 Mr. DOOLEY. Thank you, Dr. Fischer. 

 At this time, we'll call on Dr. Mortensen. 



STATEMENT OF JAMES H. MORTENSEN, ASSOCIATE DEAN, 

 RESroENT EDUCATION, PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, AND 

 CHAIRMAN, ACADEMIC PROGRAMS SECTION, BOARD ON AG- 

 RICULTURE, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE UNIVER- 

 SITIES AND LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 



Mr. Mortensen. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommit- 

 tee, I'm Jim Mortensen, chairman of the academic programs section 

 of the board on agriculture, National Association of State Univer- 

 sities and Land-Grant Colleges. I'm very pleased to have this op- 

 portunity to participate in these hearings regarding priorities for 

 the USDA of the future. 



Recently, the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engi- 

 neering, and Technology, FCCSET, and the President's Council of 

 Advisors in Science and Technology, PCAST, issued their reports 

 dealing with the relationship of the Federal Government to re- 

 search-intensive universities. Two recommendations from the re- 

 ports demand your attention. 



First, from the PCAST report, "The Federal agencies should en- 

 sure that their programs encourage universities to reemphasize 

 education rather than discourage them," and from the FCCSET re- 

 port, "Federal agencies should examine the impact of Federal re- 

 search support on university undergraduate and graduate edu- 

 cation and identify strategies to ensure against unintentional deg- 

 radation of the educational mission and excellence of the research- 

 intensive universities." With these recommendations we strongly 

 agree. 



The Federal agency link with higher education is especially criti- 

 cal to American agriculture. The American food and agricultural 

 system is the world's largest commercial industry, with assets ex- 

 ceeding $1 trillion. This great size and the system's very favorable 

 competitive position in the world economy is due in large measure 

 to our ability to substitute scientific knowledge for natural re- 

 sources and labor. 



Thus, a strong case can be made for the fact that the most criti- 

 cal challenge to the food, agricultural, and natural resource system 

 in the 1990's will be attracting and educating the requisite human 

 resources. Not enough talented college graduates in the food and 

 agricultural sciences are being produced to fill highly important 

 roles in business, science, and environmental management. Of 

 course, the contribution of State funds for the education of under- 

 graduates in the food and agricultural sciences is enormous. Yet 

 critical catalytic Federal funding is necessary to encourage innova- 

 tive cooperative programs at our colleges and universities. 



The office of higher education programs of the cooperative State 

 research service is key to the continued improvement of the quality 

 of higher education in our Nation's colleges of agriculture, and this 

 continued improvement in the academic programs is a national 

 need of great importance if the USDA is to continue to address the 

 needs of an environmentally soimd, economically significant Amer- 



