Highlights
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) R&D portfolio totals $2.4 billion
in FY 2005, a substantial increase of 7.8 percent in contrast to a requested
cut that brings the USDA R&D portfolio to a record high (see Table).
-
Most of the increase goes to laboratory construction projects,
leaving USDA basic and applied research up a smaller 2.5 percent.
- Congress matched the USDA request of $180 million for the National Research
Initiative of competitively awarded extramural research grants, up nearly
10 percent from last year.
- Congress
provides $122 million in new funds, down from the requested $178 million,
for animal research and diagnostic facilities at the National Centers
for Animal Health in Ames, Iowa,
that would be the heart of a USDA-wide food and biosafety
initiative.
- R&D earmarks
go up substantially to $239 million in FY 2005, totaling 10 percent
of the USDA R&D portfolio and nearly a quarter of USDA’s extramural
R&D funds.
On November
20, Congress came to an agreement on an FY 2005 omnibus appropriations
bill (HR 4818), which incorporates the final version of the FY 2005
Agriculture appropriations bill. The House gave final approval on December
6, and President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law on December
8. The omnibus bill keeps funding for domestic programs flat in FY 2005;
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) R&D portfolio does far
better than the average for domestic programs, even after factoring
in a 0.80 percent across-the-board cut for most domestic programs. (All
figures in this analysis reflect the across-the-board cut.) The omnibus
bill gives USDA a total R&D
budget of $2.4 billion in FY 2005, an increase of 7.8 percent or $174
million that stands in sharp contrast to a requested cut (see Table).
USDA R&D in FY 2005 Final Appropriations
In contrast
to a requested cut of 3.5 percent down to $2.2 billion, Congress funds
USDA R&D at $2.4 billion, a 7.8 percent increase. In February, USDA
proposed to eliminate $220 million in FY 2004 R&D earmarks, and
hold other USDA R&D funding flat overall. The request contained
a major facilities proposal of $178 million to complete animal research
and diagnostic facilities at the National Centers for Animal Health
in Ames, Iowa,
with cuts in other R&D programs. Congress provides enough money
to boost earmarked funding above last year’s level, to partially fund
the animal research facilities request, and to add research funding
for other priority areas in order to bring USDA R&D to an all-time
high in inflation-adjusted dollars. (For full details of the President’s
request for USDA R&D, see Chapter 11 of
AAAS Report
XXIX: R&D FY 2005.)
The congressional appropriation of $122 million in new funds for the Ames facility, though down from the $178 million
request, continues strong USDA and congressional attention to homeland
security since the terrorist attacks of 2001. In the first few years
after the attacks, USDA facilities funding went primarily to improve
security at agricultural research facilities, many of which house dangerous
pathogens, but now the focus is shifting to creating new scientific
capabilities for homeland security-related research. The renovated National
Centers for Animal Health will serve as the nation’s premier animal
research and diagnostic laboratory and will enhance the nation’s ability
to respond to attacks on the food supply. The $122 million is contained
in the $186 million appropriation for Agricultural Research Service
(ARS) Buildings and Facilities, nearly triple last year’s funding level,
with the remaining $64 million parceled out to 22 congressionally earmarked
construction projects at USDA laboratories. In addition to the construction
funds, Congress provides the $37 million request for new intramural
research on food and agriculture defense, and $18 million for homeland
security-related extramural research grants.
Total ARS R&D
climbs 12.2 percent to $1.3 billion because of the Iowa
and other facilities appropriations, but ARS funding for the conduct
of R&D (excluding facilities) increases a smaller 2.5 percent to
$1.1 billion. ARS funds intramural research through a nationwide network
of intramural laboratories and agricultural experiment stations, including
numerous research projects on congressionally designated topics.
USDA’s extramural
research grants, nearly entirely to colleges and universities, are administered
by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES).
Total CSREES R&D will be $643 million
in FY 2005, a 4.0 percent or $24 million increase over FY 2004 but a
substantial $132 million more than the request. The difference comes
from the insertion of $148 million in congressional earmarks that the
Administration proposed to terminate. Congress allocated $120 million
for Special Research Grants, up from $111
million last year. This program has traditionally been home to congressionally
designated, performer-specific research projects. The omnibus bill lists
196 itemized projects for specific performers, most of which were also
earmarked for funding in FY 2004. Moreover, the rest of the CSREES budget
is increasingly earmarked; the omnibus bill contains 40 other earmarks
totaling $33 million in other parts of the CSREES budget.
At the same time,
the National Research Initiative (NRI) receives
a record $180 million, the same as the request and $16 million more
than last year. Congress also set aside $43 million for competitive
grants within the Integrated Grants program. USDA also provides formula
funds for agricultural R&D to qualifying institutions in programs
such as the Hatch Act, which sees a slight decline in funding to $179
million in FY 2005.
The other major
USDA R&D agency is the Forest Service; it has $322 million for its
R&D programs in FY 2005, an increase of $6 million or 1.8 percent.
Although the primary focus of its R&D portfolio is forestry and
ecosystems research, in recent years the Forest Service has emphasized
its fire science and wildfire management research portfolio as well.
Most of this research is performed in intramural laboratories, although
there is also an extramural fire science grants program that receives
$22 million in 2005.
The omnibus bill
also contains some legislative provisions that are renewed annually.
One provision renews a cap on indirect costs to extramural performers
for USDA R&D at 20 percent, far less than what most universities
recover for non-USDA grants; another provision sets a lower ceiling
of 10 percent for independent nonprofit institutions engaged in cooperative
R&D. Another provision blocks funding for a mandatory competitive
research grants program, but allows USDA to use its discretionary grants
programs such as NRI and Integrated Grants to fund research on topics
that the mandatory program might have funded.
Impacts of the USDA R&D Portfolio
The FY 2005 increase for R&D brings the USDA R&D portfolio to
an all-time peak in inflation-adjusted dollars (see Figure 1). USDA
R&D has been at historical highs for the past few years. Since hitting
a recent low in FY 1996, the funding trend has been generally upward,
first because the federal budget surplus made more discretionary funds
available to congressional appropriators, then in FY 2000 and FY 2001
from the release of mandatory competitive research funds, and then since
FY 2002 because heightened concern about agricultural terrorism and
the security of USDA laboratories resulted in millions for security
upgrades and other homeland security-related investments.
USDA is the sixth-largest
supporter of R&D in the federal government, and its support is especially
important for key disciplines. USDA is responsible for just 5 percent
of all research support in the broad area of the life sciences, but
dominates funding for two disciplines within life sciences, agricultural
sciences and environmental biology. USDA funds more than 90 percent
of all federal support for the agricultural sciences, with the remainder
supported by the Agency for International Development (for international
agriculture R&D) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(for aquaculture and other marine-related R&D). USDA is also an
important supporter of chemistry and biology, and represents a majority
of federal support for economics through the Economic Research Service
(ERS).
Figure
1. (click on
the image for PDF)
USDA’s R&D portfolio is the most evenly distributed geographically
among federal R&D funding agencies. 73 percent of USDA’s R&D goes
to its own laboratories in a nationwide network of agricultural experiment
stations located in all 50 states. Another 25 percent of the portfolio goes to
colleges and universities, again to all 50 states because of the nationwide
network of land-grant colleges and minority serving institutions that often
receive USDA funds through formula distributions and geographically dispersed
R&D earmarks. The top 10 state recipients of USDA R&D funds account for
less than half the USDA total (see Figure 2), in contrast to the overall
federal R&D portfolio in which just 7 states receive the majority of
federal R&D.
Figure
2. (click on
the image for PDF)
Next Steps
The record-setting
USDA R&D budget for FY 2005 becomes final on December 8 when President
Bush signs the omnibus bill into law. Although USDA R&D funding
continues to hit new highs, there is growing interest in the agricultural
science community in new funding mechanisms to ensure a steady funding
stream for basic agricultural research through competitive grants. Although
NRI hits a new high in 2005, the history of competitive agricultural
research grants has been mixed in recent years as Congress and USDA
have blocked mandatory competitive programs, directed the bulk of recent
increases to facilities rather than research, siphoned off NRI dollars
to fund earmarks, and repeatedly fallen short of the original vision
of NRI as a $500 million-a-year program. In 2005, there is expected
to be a push to create a National Institute for Food and Agriculture
(NIFA) employing an extramural, peer-reviewed basic research model for
agricultural research like the National Institutes of Health (NIH);
advocates hope that a NIFA existing as a semi-independent agency within
USDA would offer a higher profile for basic agricultural research and
perhaps higher dollars. In a similar vein, a few weeks ago Senator Christopher
Bond (R-MO) introduced a bill (S 3009) that would create a Division
of Food and Agriculture Science within the National Science Foundation
(NSF) to award peer-reviewed basic agricultural research grants. Although
Congress did not act on the bill this year, it could be reintroduced
in 2005.
- December 7, 2004
(This analysis is one of a series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates
on FY 2005 congressional appropriations. The complete series of AAAS
R&D Funding Updates, including continually updated analyses of
R&D by agency in FY 2005 appropriations, is available on the AAAS
R&D Web Site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd) in the "FY
2005 R&D" or the "What's New"
sections.)
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
www.aaas.org/spp/rd
