152 



proposal to the USDA for the Science and Education budget in the summer before 

 appropriations are made. ESCOP, along with other NASULGC counterparts evaluate the 

 President's budget in early spring and then take their recommendations to the Congress. 



The SAESs are not tightly organized as is the case with federal agencies conducting research 

 and development. They represent a coordinated network of participating state agencies 

 which are part of land grant universities. Their strength lies in the distributed decision 

 making and programs of research that address the needs and opportunities of individual 

 states. They support a diversified set of agricultural and related industries which are based 

 on the specific natural resources and other factors that also make U.S. agriculture site 

 specific. Despite the distributed nature of this network, it has a consistent ability to find 

 consensus on the major national issues of over-arching importance that require programs 

 of research to provide new knowledge and solutions. There is a growing need and 

 opportunity to share resources and trade-off responsibilities in four regions of the country 

 into which the SAES community is divided. 



The ESCOP-CSRS Strategic Research Plan has been and is successful in recognizing both 

 the continuing and new needs for research on food, agriculture, natural resources and the 

 environment. In the past, the system has redirected the existing portfolio of research 

 projects to meet changing national and local needs. The federal government has provided 

 sustaining support for the on-going programs as well as selected new funding in high priority 

 areas. In the present environment, this system is challenged to continue to use the basic 

 procedures now in place for effective planning, but to shift its budgeting strategies towards 

 a reinvestment of existing resources rather than an investment of new resources added to 

 current appropriations. While this has been done in practice at the state level for many 

 years, the system has less experience with seeking and maintaining consensus at the national 

 level in the "net sums" situation (see also appendix one). 



OPPORTUNITIES FOR FUNCTIONAL CHANGE: 



o Take a USDA leadership role in expanding farm programs that reward 

 environmental stewardship rather than production of surpluses. A science- based 

 approach to achieving this, through enlightened research, will maintain the option of 

 farming with voluntary rather than regulatory management of the environmental 

 agenda, while continuing to enhance international economic competitiveness. 



o Develop incentives and support for regional activities that can effectively consolidate 



or complement state level research and development. Use of geographic information 

 system methods will provide a means of assessing common natural resource bases for 

 regional research at the level of basins, watersheds and other natural resource 

 boundaries. Such methods will also enhance the effectiveness of priority setting 



