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By institutional imperative, all SAES research is targeted; there is no "science for science's 

 sake" effort that can be sustained under our state mandate. We should not confuse basic and 

 applied with competitive vs formula funded research. There is a very substantial investment 

 in fundamental research in the base programs, and some of the competitively awarded 

 grants are applied. 



There is a perception among some of a shift in emphasis of overall program that results 

 from a continuing growth in sophistication of the tools of research that are used for problem 

 solving or applied efforts. Modem methods of biological and physical research address 

 applied problems with what were previously regarded as tools of basic research. 



While Congress is primarily concerned with the federal funds which it appropriates, the 

 optimum investment strategy in the SAES-USDA partnership should consider the total 

 investment, not just federal funds. CSRS funds for agricultural research in FY 93, exclusive 

 of facilities, totals about $434 million, of which some 51% are formula funds, the NRI 

 accounts for about 22%, special facilities grants provide 12% and the remainder is for other 

 smaller efforts and administration. 



The total funding for agricultural research in the System is almost two billion dollars, of 

 which the federal component is about one-third, the CSRS part is less than a quarter. State 

 appropriations provide about $1.1 billion dollars (55%) for agricultural research. Another 

 $249 million is derived from other sources, including about 7% derived from industry. 



In our testimony, we stated that we are not aware of a quantitative assessment of how the 

 total funding for agricultural research is distributed. Recognizing the semantics hang-up 

 with using the terms basic and applied, the opinion was expressed that at one end of the 

 spectrum, about 25% of the total resources are directed at breakthrough or discovery 

 research. At the other end of the spectrum, we estimated that about 25% of the effort was 

 directed at very specific application of existing knowledge and technology to site-specific 

 effort. We believe the remainder of the investment is a very healthy mixture of 

 development and application of new knowledge and technology. 



Optimum Distribution of Formula. Competititve and Special Grants 



There is probably not a well developed consensus among SAES directors on this question. 

 The differences in opinion arise from the differences in resources avzulable to individual 

 SAESs and the external competitiveness of such institutions. We accept the charge from 

 this Committee that such a consensus should be sought. 



The NAS/NRC study, referred to in our testimony, concluded that there is an 

 underinvestment in research at the discovery or breakthrough end of the spectrum. While 

 this study advocated new funding for that purpose, it also called for a major part of the new 

 investment to be in multi or interdisciplinary research, recognizing that team efforts will be 



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