Science Policy Report

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28 January 2015

In This Issue:

Policy News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Science News

Policy News

The President's State of the Union Address, delivered on January 20, focused on growing a middle-class economy, and touched upon how science and technology can contribute toward that goal. In his speech, the President stated, "21st century businesses will rely on American science, technology, research and development.” The President used his address to preview a new “precision medicine” initiative that aims to tap genetic and other information to improve treatments for human diseases. He also stated that one of the biggest challenges that we face is climate change and came out in strong defense of his administration’s policies to combat it. Read the full article.

By a 98 to 1 vote, the U.S. Senate approved Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D–RI) amendment that asked simply whether it is “the sense of the Senate that climate change is real and not a hoax.” In a surprise turn, Senator James Inhofe (R–OK), the man who once declared global warming a hoax also voted for the amendment. The only senator voting no was Roger Wicker (R–MS). Meanwhile, although two other measures stating that humans are contributing to climate change won a majority of votes from the 99 senators present, they failed to garner the 60 votes needed to be adopted by the Senate. Read the full article.

Reports indicate that the President's budget request for FY 2016, due on February 2, will seek to overturn most of the spending constraints scheduled for next year under the Budget Control Act. The Administration may propose to raise the discretionary spending caps by up to $68 billion, or seven percent, above their current post-sequestration levels, split between defense and civilian spending. Such an increase would eliminate three-quarters of the required reductions under the post-sequestration spending caps, but faces long odds in Congress. A fact sheet released from the White House this week describes how President Barack Obama plans to double the government's investment in combating the mounting public health crisis of drug-resistant infections by spreading roughly $1.2 billion in funding across several federal agencies. Read the full article.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that 115 high-impact projects across all 50 states and Puerto Rico will receive more than $370 million in Federal funding as part of the new USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). In addition, these projects will leverage an estimated $400 million more in partner contributions—for a total of nearly $800 million—to improve the nation's water quality, support wildlife habitat and enhance the environment. RCPP was created in the 2014 Farm Bill, and is administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). RCPP is an outgrowth of very similar programs authorized as part of the 2002 and 2008 Farm Bills. Read the full article.

Over the last year, the National Science Foundation has taken new steps to enhance transparency and accountability. In a notice last week, the agency aims to clarify NSF's award abstracts, which serve a different purpose than the project summary that is submitted as part of a proposal. Effective December 26, 2014, NSF's updated Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 15-1) includes the following statement about award abstracts: "An NSF award abstract, with its title, is an NSF document that describes the project and justifies the expenditure of Federal funds.” Read the full article.

A critical document needed by EPA to move forward on its regulatory bid to extend authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to all "waters of the U.S. (WOTUS)," was approved and puts the controversial rulemaking one step closer to completion. The document approved is a report entitled "Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence," and stands as a peer review by EPA's outside Science Advisory Board (SAB) of the science used to justify the rulemaking. The review overcomes at least one major initial criticism of the WOTUS proposal by GOP lawmakers that the agency had not completed peer review of the science and the proposal was premature. Read the full article.

The political clash over climate change has entered new territory that does not involve a massive oil pipeline or a subsidy for renewable energy, but a quaint federal chart that tries to nudge Americans toward a healthy diet. The food pyramid, that 3-decade-old backbone of grade-school nutrition lessons, has become a test case of how far the Obama administration is willing to push its global warming agenda. The unexpected debate began with a suggestion by a prominent panel of government scientists: The food pyramid — recently refashioned in the shape of a dinner plate — could be reworked to consider the heavy carbon impact of raising animals for meat, they said. Read the full article.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in the House that aims to put an end to the federal ban on hemp production in the United States. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act would amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana and would allow for American farmers in any state to grow the crop. The introduction of the bill was led by Polis as well as Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), all vocal supporters of hemp policy reform. Read the full article.

International Corner

Hoping to entice more foreign scientists to work in China, the Chinese government has unveiled regulations that greatly expand the number of talent programs, the recipients of which are eligible for favorable immigration status. Under the new regulation, awardees in an additional 55 programs will now be eligible to obtain permanent resident permits, or so-called Chinese green cards. Most of the programs affected are province- or city-level talent plans. Also included are a few Chinese Academy of Sciences programs, including the well-known One Hundred Talents plan. However, the research culture in China would deter many potential recruits, experts say. Read the full article.

A controversial plan to use research funds to pay for economic stimulus became more concrete this week, as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled proposed legislation to implement the shift. The new investment fund would take €2.7 billion over 5.5 years from Horizon 2020, the commission’s main funding stream for research that will invest about €80 billion between 2014 and 2020. Draft legislation, released on 13 January, lays out the framework for the stimulus.  The single largest share of the Horizon 2020 cuts—€350 million—would be directed at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in Budapest. Read the full article.

The leading higher education and research organizations in Japan issued a Joint Statement for Enhancing the Integrity of Scientific Research last month. The Statement recognizes recent events in Japan, noting that "we need to radically raise the level of integrity in day-to-day research activities." Among the actions that group plans to undertake is to "require all personnel [in Japan's research institutions and universities] to complete specific educational programs and observe basic research ethics." Read the full statement.

A new Task Force has been established to examine science education in the Muslim world, with a focus on Muslim universities in the 57 nations that are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. It is a partnership between the Islamic World Academy of Sciences and the Malaysia Academy of Sciences, and is partially funded by the John Templeton Foundation. The Task Force first met in December 2014 and is scheduled to issue its report with recommendations in June 2015. Among the questions on which it will focus are: Are universities responsible for the lack of scientific progress? Is religion a hindrance to teaching science in the Muslim world? How is academic freedom understood and applied in the Muslim world? Read the full article.

South Korea opened its cap and trade auction this week; the auction involved 525 companies, which makes this auction the second largest in the world, after the European system. South Korea aims to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from current levels by 2020. On Monday, carbon sold for 7,860 won, or $7.26 US per metric ton, and increased to 8,640 won, or $7.97 US. It is predicted that prices will increase significantly by 2017, to $30 US per metric ton. Read the full article.

A new report says China’s water shortage crisis is likely to deepen as the country continues to develop. Government efforts to try and redistribute water from relatively water-wealthy regions to more parched provinces are also likely to further exacerbate the problem, the authors say. According to the UN, though China is home to 21% of the world’s population, it contains only 7% of the world’s freshwater supplies. Read the full article.

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

The North Central Region - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) is seeking nominees for the following seats on its Administrative Council (AC) as follows: 1) At-large representative of an agriculture college or university, 2) Farmer/Rancher, 3) Representative of a state department of agriculture and 4) Representative of agribusiness. The term for each of these SARE Administrative Council slots is three years. Council members attend two meetings a year, typically 2-3 day meetings in July and Feb./March at various Midwest locations, and also participate in a few conference calls each year. Travel expenses are fully covered for travel to Administrative Council meetings. Nominees should have a basic understanding of sustainable agriculture and be comfortable with reviewing grant proposals and participating in a group decision-making process. Deadline, February 12. Read the full announcement.

The Energy Audit and Renewable Energy Development Assistance Grant is available to a unit of State, Tribal, or local government; instrumentality of a State, Tribal, or local government; institution of higher education; rural electric cooperative; a public power entity; or a council, as defined in 16 U.S.C. 3451. The recipient of grant funds, (grantee), will establish a program to assist agricultural producers and rural small businesses with evaluating the energy efficiency and the potential to incorporated renewable energy technologies into their operations. Deadline, February 12. Read the full announcement.

The Sustain Our Great Lakes Program, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), is dedicated to sustaining, restoring, and protecting fish, wildlife, and habitat in the Great Lakes basin by awarding grants for on-the-ground habitat restoration and enhancement. In 2015, grant funding will be awarded in two categories: Stream and Riparian Restoration, and Coastal Wetland Restoration. Nonprofit organizations; state, tribal, and local governments; and educational institutions may apply. Pre-proposal deadline, February 18. Read the full announcement.

Computational approaches play a central role in understanding and advancing sustainability. The Cyber-Innovation for Sustainability Science and Engineering (CyberSEES) Program supports research on topics that depend on advances in computational areas including optimization, modeling, simulation, prediction and inference; large-scale data management and analytics; advanced sensing techniques; human computer interaction and social computing; infrastructure design, control and management; and intelligent systems and decision-making. Additionally, the widespread, intensive use of computing technologies also introduces sustainability challenges and motivates new approaches across the lifecycle of technology design and use. Deadline, February 24. Read the full announcement.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency under USDA, is announcing availability of Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. Proposals will be accepted from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and the Pacific Islands Area (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).NRCS anticipates that the amount available for support of this program in FY 2015 will be up to$20 million. Proposals are requested from eligible governmental or non-governmental organizations or individuals for competitive consideration of grant awards for projects between 1 and 3 years in duration. Pre-proposal deadline, February 24. Read the full announcement.

The goal of the Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign is to transform, by 2020, how we describe and understand the scope and role of life on Earth. This campaign promotes novel integrative approaches to fill the most substantial gaps in our understanding of the diversity of life on Earth. It takes a broad view of biodiversity, and focuses on the intersection of genetic, phylogenetic, and functional dimensions of biodiversity. Successful proposals must integrate these three dimensions to understand interactions and feedbacks among them. While this focus complements several core programs in BIO and GEO, it differs by requiring that multiple dimensions of biodiversity be addressed simultaneously, in novel ways, to understand their synergistic roles in critical ecological and evolutionary processes. Deadline, April 9. Read the full announcement.

The goal of the Basic Research to Enable Agricultural Development (BREAD) Program is to support innovative basic scientific research designed to address key constraints to smallholder agriculture in the developing world. Proposals submitted to BREAD must make a clear and well-defined connection between the outcomes of the proposed basic research and its direct relevance and potential application to agriculture in the developing world. The two focus areas supported this year are: (1) Developing High Throughput, Low Cost Phenotyping Tools and Devices to facilitate assessment of field-based phenotypes, especially for root and tuber crops (PHENO), and (2) Advancing Basic Research in Crop Plants Relevant to Smallholder Agriculture in Developing Countries (ABRDC) to develop critically needed sequence and functional genomics resources to enable basic and applied research in crop plants important for smallholder agriculture. Deadline, April 27. Read the full announcement.

Science News

We think the next 15 years will see major breakthroughs for most people in poor countries. They will be living longer and in better health. They will have unprecedented opportunities to get an education, eat nutritious food, and benefit from mobile banking. These breakthroughs will be driven by innovation in technology and by innovations that help deliver those things to more people. Read the full letter.

Can we achieve a 70% increase in food production by 2050? It’s often quoted as an objective, but some areas of Africa have seen agricultural productivity decline by half due to erosion and desertification. If productivity is ever to go up, we may need to start by looking down: at the soil. This is the International Year of Soils, so policy attention is likely to shift to this resource. A recent report on conserving, restoring and enhancing Africa’s soils recommends a holistic approach to soil management called Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM). Read the full article.

Genetic resources have a critical role to play in feeding the world — especially as climate change advances faster than expected — and much more needs to be done to study, preserve and utilize the biological diversity that underpins world food production, according to a new book released by FAO today. "Time is not on our side" warns the book, Coping with climate change: the roles of genetic resources for food and agriculture. "In the coming decades, millions of people whose livelihoods and food security depend on farming, aquaculture, fishing, forestry and livestock keeping are likely to face unprecedented climatic conditions." Crops, livestock, forest trees and aquatic organisms capable of surviving and producing in a changing climate will be needed. Read the full article.

When nitrogen finds its way from agricultural fields into water bodies and the atmosphere, it doesn't just degrade water quality and contribute to climate change. That lost nitrogen also isn't being used to grow crops, and farmers are losing money. So in an effort to reduce environmental damages while also increasing profits, new technologies are being developed to keep nitrogen in place and available to crops. But will farmers adopt these technologies? A new study by McCann in the Journal of Environmental Quality aimed to answer that question. Read the full article.

On the face of it, the new potato varieties called "Innate" seem attractive. If you peel the brown skin off their white flesh, you won't find many unsightly black spots. And when you fry them, you'll probably get a much smaller dose of a potentially harmful chemical. But here's the catch: Some of the biggest potato buyers in the country, such as Frito-Lay and McDonald's, seem afraid to touch these potatoes. Others don't even want to talk about them because they are genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Read the full article.

The August 2014 water crisis in Toledo, OH, impacted Ohioans’ views of Lake Erie algae problems by increasing the attribution of blame of algae growth on crop and animal agriculture, as well as increasing the levels of reported fear and concern among citizens, said Brian Roe, an economist in Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. Through an initial analysis of survey data gathered before and after the crisis from a sample of Ohioans, Roe seeks to understand if the Toledo water crisis and its media coverage reshaped Ohioans’ views of water quality in Lake Erie, their views on the role of agriculture in impacting the health of the lake and their thoughts on the types of policies needed to stem the continued growth of harmful algal blooms. Read the full article.

Globally, soils hold a tiny fraction of Earth’s water. But that moisture is nevertheless a crucial quantity in water, carbon, and energy cycles: It determines how vulnerable regions are to drought and flood, how well plants grow and suck up atmospheric carbon, and how Earth heats up and cools off—a key driver for storms. Yet for the most part, soil moisture has been monitored by a sparse set of probes stuck in the ground. NASA’s Soil Moisture Activity Probe (SMAP), a $916 million satellite due to launch on 29 January, is a high priority among U.S. earth scientists. The mission will generate a global map of soil moisture every 2 to 3 days at 10 kilometers resolution, helping improve weather forecasts, flood forecasts, and drought monitoring. Read the full article.

At the base of Earth's food webs, organisms convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into chemical energy. Primary productivity, as the process is known, is everywhere: in growing forests, lawns that need mowing, and spreading algae blooms. But its manifestations differ from place-to-place and year-to-year, scientists say, even if we compare forests to forests or streams to streams. This variability has led researchers to ask why. Answering the question is far from simple, they say. Understanding where, when, how and why primary production changes has been a central question for ecologists. It's a core research topic for sites in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. NSF LTER sites are located in ecosystems from deserts to grasslands, coral reefs to Arctic tundra. Read the full article.

Sources: NSF; USDA; FWF; ScienceInsider; Bloomberg; The Midwest Producer; LA Times; Huffington Post; The Guardian; FAO; NPR; CropLife; The Gates Notes; The Hill; Sci Div Net; Wall Street Journal;

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