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84 ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



those of Other agencies, in developing its v^-aste management, land use. bio- 

 logical resources management, and monitoring programs. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



■ The Department of Agriculture should continue to strengthen its en- 

 vironmental R&D hy following the recommendations recently rrude by the 

 National Research Council and the congressional Office ofTechnology Assess- 

 ment that call for a substantial increase in funding for competitive research 

 grants and for a more structured, integrated, and coordinated R&D plan- 

 ning system. 



USDA has an extensive and longstanding agricultural research pro- 

 gram, established over a centurj- ago. It is centered in the depanment's Agri- 

 cultural Research Service, although the Cooperative State Research Service 

 (CSRS) and the Extension Service (ES) also carry out research or are involved 

 in the delivery of research to end users and the practical application of re- 

 search results. The agricultural research program is coupled with a far-reaching 

 extension system that links 74 land grant universities and more than 51.000 

 county offices. The department's research efforts have been successful in some 

 areas; however, environmental research and development, with the excep- 

 tion of soil conservation and some other programs, is a relatively recent venture. 



The goal of USDA's agricultural R&D is to increase agricultural pro- 

 ductivity. Its accomplishments arc impressive and have contributed to making 

 U.S. agricultural programs among the most productive in the world. With 

 less than 7 percent of the world's land and less than 5 percent of the world's 

 population, the United States' fanners produce 11.6 percent of the world's 

 agricultural commodities (by value); one hour of farm labor produces nearly 

 S times as much food and crops today as it did in 1947. output per acre 

 is 40 percent higher today than it was in 1967. and each farmer in the United 

 States produces enough food for a hundred people. 



Today, USDA's research is increasingly concerned with the environ- 

 mental consequences of farming and agricultural technology (for example, 

 the effects on wetlands conservation of pesticide use) and USDA is conduaing 

 research in areas such as sustainable development. «-ater quality, biotech- 

 nolog>. and food quality and safety. To help understand the potential effects 

 of global climate change, ARS has become an active participant in the United 

 States Global Change Research Program and is de\'eloping a strategic plan 

 for assessing the long-term and shon-term effects of climate change on 

 American agriculture. 



USDA research has been studied in depth by both the National 



