We have reached a “critical juncture” in assessing the role and importance of public agricultural research, says a new report from Purdue University, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and other groups. The report highlights that public spending on agricultural research in the United States has plummeted and trails other countries’ investments, threatening innovation and public access to information. At the same time, it reports, ag research is becoming increasingly privatized.
“Today, U.S. agriculture’s competitive edge is challenged as public investment in agricultural research, extension, and outreach trails other nations,” the report overview reads. “Increasing agricultural productivity from the adoption of public research enabled the agricultural industry to cut inputs used by 14 percent and simultaneously boost agricultural output by 98 percent. Yet U.S. public research expenditures dropped from 4 percent of agricultural gross domestic product in the early 2000s to 2 percent today. Further declines in research and development threaten the future productivity of U.S. agriculture and its sustainability.”
The report identifies a few crucial areas in which public outreach and extension programs are necessary for moving farming forward, including training on the use of big data, implementing climate adaptation plans, improving water quality, and providing programs for farms of all sizes. “The future portends a necessity to invest and advance the current state of agriculture in the United States so the nation can be better prepared to face some of the most engrossing challenges facing its communities in the next decade.”
The United States is unique among its agricultural peers in reducing public funding for ag research. China now leads the U.S. by a 2-to-1 margin in investment in public agricultural research, spending well more than $9 billion in 2013. Concurrently, private spending on food and agricultural research has skyrocketed in the U.S.
Jay Akridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity at Purdue University, highlighted the role extension services and outreach efforts play in getting the best science to farmers and rural communities.
“Trustworthiness is at the heart of extension and outreach, along with the ability to change with the times, reinventing delivery methods and modes of expertise to match the changing needs of people and their communities,” he said in a press release.
The report comes as agricultural research programs are in the spotlight due to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s plan to relocate the USDA’s Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture from their longtime homes in Washington, D.C., to Kansas City. The move has been largely criticized by farm, environmental, and science groups, as well as by the union representing employees of the two agencies. Significant staff attrition due to the relocation has raised concerns that USDA research programs will suffer further.