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more frequent and effective engagement and would hope that these hezuings will serve as 

 one of the stimuli to promote such communication. 



With the Congressional Fellows, we are attempting to develop a seminar series for 

 Congressional staff on topics of mutual interest. 



5. How do we correctly balance basic and applied research? Does the current mix 

 contain relatively too much basic research or relatively too much applied or mission 

 linked research? 



Although often used, the terms "basic and applied" create artificial images of the orientation 

 and application of research. There is a continuum of research that involves fundamental 

 study leading to breakthroughs or discovery of new principles or concepts at one end of the 

 spectrum and, at the other end, the necessary research to apply these principles to actual 

 operation. The latter is often site specific. By institutional definition, all SAES research 

 is targeted to an ultimate appUcation. A very large amount of the total research investment 

 portfolio lies in the middle ground between the two ends of the spectrum. Formula funds 

 vs competitive grants is not synonymous with applied vs basic; neither is short term vs long 

 term related to the application of results. 



The National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council report "Investing in 

 Research, A Proposal to Strengthen the Agricultural, Food, and Environmental System" 

 (1989) concluded that there was an underinvestment in agricultural research, especially in 

 the employment of the new research methods of modem biology and engineering 

 (biotechnology). This has been accepted by both the previous and new Administrations. 

 Its recommendations have been incorporated by the Congress in the 1990 Farm Bill. 



There have not been quantitative studies of the distribution of research across the spectrum 

 from discovery to application for all types of funding in the SAESs. There is not even a 

 consensus on how projects would be categorized across this spectrum. However, it is the 

 perspective of most students of this subject that a large percentage of the aggregate 

 investment at the state level is still directed towards the applied end of the spectrum. A 

 subjective estimate of the current distribution is that about 25% is oriented to the discovery 

 end of the spectrum, 25% to site specific application and 50% to the center of the spectrum, 

 combining fundamental and applied methods. 



The segment of users representing interest in sustainable agriculture often seek a greater 

 investment of research resources at the application end of the spectrum, since they perceive 

 the short term need to be there. However, this group readily identifies with the need to 

 address needs for fundamental knowledge (at the discovery end of the spectrum) that is 

 required to enhance the performance of sustainable agriculture. They are especially keen 

 on the need for more long-term total systems research to develop management models for 



