80 



agricultural research facilities. Starting in 1981, we have 

 submitted recommendations in written reports to the Secretary and 

 the Congress on facilities, including a 1990 position paper on 

 this issue to the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, 

 Nutrition, and Forestry.' 



The UAB believes that to maintain the finest agricultural 

 research facility program in the world, this Nation must build 

 accountability into that program. First, the Nation must develop 

 a cohesive overall strategy for agricultural research. Then we 

 must determine if existing or proposed agricultural research 

 facilities can fulfill the strategy's long term goals and 

 objectives. 



Before I go into greater detail, Mr. Chairman, allow me to 

 cut to our bottom line : It is the UAB's opinion that Congress 

 should delay any authorization or appropriation of funds for 

 additional agricultural research facilities until we have in 

 place: 



(1) a strategic national facilities plan; and 



(2) mechanisms to evaluate all current and proposed 

 facilities. 



BUDGET REALITIES 



The backdrop to our discussion today is the national budget 

 crisis. We listened very carefully when you spoke before the UAB 

 last month, Mr. Chairman. We appreciated your candor about the 

 challenges facing the research and extension system. We want the 

 Subcommittee to know that the UAB agrees: Control and 

 accountability in the budget is not only top on the congressional 

 agenda but top on our agenda as well. 



Across government, the research community is being asked to 

 tighten its belt. Congressman George Brown, Vice Chairman of 

 this Subcommittee, recently noted in Science that the United 

 States will spend $12 billion on civilian basic research alone 

 this fiscal year.^ The message in his article is that the near 

 future holds little to no growth in research funding. 



The science and education agencies of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture (USDA) consume approximately $1.6 billion 



' Report on National Peer Review of Federal and State 

 Agricultural Research Facilities, 1989 



^ Honorable George E. Brown, Jr., Science, Vol. 258, Oct 9, 

 1992, Rational Science, Irrational Reality: A Congressional 

 Perspective on Basic Research and Society. 



