Science Policy Report

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13 January 2016

In This Issue:

Policy News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Science News

Policy News

There’s still time to apply for two science policy opportunities open to ASA, CSSA and SSSA members. Graduate student members with an interest in advocacy should apply for the 2016 Future Leaders in Science award. Recipients travel to Washington D.C. to participate in the 2016 Congressional Visits Day, March 14-15. Members with their PhD or approaching completion of their PhD can apply for the 2017 Congressional Science Fellowship. Use your scientific knowledge working for a member of Congress in this year-long Fellowship. Deadline for both applications is THIS FRIDAY, January 15. Learn more and apply here.

With the overall spending level already determined by the budget deal this past fall, Congress is poised to move forward quickly on the FY 2017 appropriations process. Both Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker, Paul Ryan, have stated their desire to pass all twelve appropriations bills in normal order and on time. It’s predicted that bills could be seen on the floor as early as mid-March. The President is also moving forward with the FY 2017 budget process, with his final budget request set to be released on Feb. 9. Be on the lookout for action alerts over the next few months as we will need your voices to speak out for food, agriculture and natural resources research.

Climate change got several nods during President Obama’s final State of the Union address on Tuesday. The president named it as one of the major challenges facing both the country and his successor. He also called out climate deniers, perhaps referring to the ones vying for his job. “Look, if anybody still wants to dispute the science around climate change, have at it,” the president said to scattered laughter. “You’ll be pretty lonely, because you’ll be debating our military, most of America’s business leaders, the majority of the American people, almost the entire scientific community, and 200 nations around the world who agree it’s a problem and intend to solve it,” he said, regarding the Paris climate agreement. Read the full article.

More than 50 scientific societies, universities and research organizations, including SSSA, signed on to a letter of thanks to Dr. France Cordova, Director of the National Science Foundation, for her efforts on behalf of the geosciences in the FY 2016 appropriations process. Now that the FY 2016 spending had been finalized, NSF must now develop its spending plan based on the guidelines in the omnibus bill. The letter also asks to provide strong support for the Geoscience Directorate as the spending plan is completed. Read the letter. 

The right food and agricultural policies can improve the health of America’s families, economy, farms and the environment, as outlined in recommendations AGree is presenting to presidential candidates. AGree’s Call to Action provides core elements in a strategy for elevating food and agriculture as a national priority. AGree’s four Co-Chairs urge the candidates to engage on critical issues facing food and agriculture which, in turn, will strengthen our nation. To learn more about AGree’s Call to Action, please read the news release here. Read the full article.

The Obama administration wants Americans to believe that without government intervention, climate change will become a cataclysmic threat. Whether through exaggerated claims, worst case scenarios, inflated projections, skewed statistics, or biased data, the Obama administration's goal is to scare the public into supporting costly regulations that will do very little to address global warming. House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman, Lamar Smith (R-TX), outlines why he believes climate change is not the threat the Obama administration makes it out to be. Read the full article.

The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses (IYP). IYP aims to heighten public awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food production aimed towards food security and nutrition. CSSA is providing information on pulses and collaborating with the many organizations to increase knowledge about the benefits that pulses provide to human and soil health. Find more information on pulses and IYP at www.crops.org/iyp. Read the full article.

International Corner

A scorching drought in Southern Africa that led to widespread crop failure could nudge African nations to finally embrace genetically modified (GM) crops. Many African countries have banned GM crops, arguing that they will cross-contaminate other plants, pollute the environment, and could have long-term health effects for humans. GMO advocates, however, say that poor African farmers are likely to benefit most from reduced use of pesticides, lower production costs, higher yields, and high prices for crops. Read the full article.

Even as China’s economic woes cast a shadow on Asia, Singapore’s scientists are hoping for smooth sailing over the next 5 years. On January 8, the government announced that it will spend 19 billion Singapore dollars ($13.2 billion) on R&D from 2016 to 2020. The Research Innovation Enterprise 2020 Plan, or RIE2020, is an 18% increase over the previous 5-year cycle. Read the full article.

The European Food Safety Authority has begun a review that could pave the way for rolling back a pioneering EU-wide ban on three neonicotinoid pesticides that are thought to have ravaged bee populations. Evidence linking the pesticides to bee population declines has mounted, with field trial results published by the EPA showing that imidacloprid can push hive numbers on to a downward spiral. Read the full article.

Full-time professors at public universities in Brazil will now be allowed to carry out research in the private sector—and get paid for it, without having to drop their academic jobs. The change is the result of a new law, signed yesterday by President Dilma Rousseff, designed to bring science and industry closer together. The law authorizes universities and public research institutions to collaborate more freely with companies, including a mechanism for giving companies access to public research facilities. Read the full article.

In China, genetically modified food is a hot-button issue, replete with an official ban on the commercial production of GMO grains. Or at least, there is supposed to be such a ban. An eight-month probe by Greenpeace found large-scale production of GMO corn in a major breadbasket region. Opposition to GMO food has been vocal and prominent in social media and on newspaper opinion pages, as many in China believe GMO food carries health risks or encourages overreliance on imported products and foreign technology. Read the full article.

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) grants program is currently accepting research proposals from applicants residing in Canada, Mexico and the United States. In particular, OFRF encourages farmers, ranchers, graduate students, early career researchers, veterans, and Extension personnel to consider applying. The main priority for this year’s research is soil health, with an emphasis on water management (e.g., soil health for drought and flood conditions). Deadlines, Feb. 8. Read the full announcement.

This competitive grants program is intended to promote and strengthen the ability of Hispanic-Serving Institutions to carry out higher education programs in the food and agricultural sciences. Programs aim to attract outstanding students and produce graduates capable of enhancing the Nation's food and agricultural scientific and professional work force. Deadlines, Feb. 9, 10 or 12 based on award type. Read the full announcement.

The AFRI Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative (ELI) provides fellowships to undergraduate, predoctoral, and postdoctoral students in the agricultural sciences. Deadlines, Feb. 11, March 18 or March 24 based on career stage. Read the full announcement.

The purpose of this program is to promote and strengthen the ability of Alaska Native-Serving Institutions and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions to carry out education, applied research, and related community development programs. NIFA intends this program to address educational needs, as determined by each institution, within a broadly defined arena of food and agricultural sciences-related disciplines. Priority will be given to those projects that enhance educational equity for under represented students; strengthen institutional educational capacities; prepare students for careers related to the food, agricultural, and natural resource systems of the United States; and maximize the development and use of resources to improve food and agricultural sciences teaching programs. Deadline, March 1. Read the full announcement.

The 2016 Pioneer Grant Program aims to reduce nutrient and/or sediment contaminant loads to the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland Coastal Bays from any nonpoint source: agriculture, urban or suburban stormwater, air, and septic by seeking proposals that focus on new techniques, information, or programs that increase the rate at which load reductions can occur. What this funds: The Trust is open to various types of projects to accelerate the rates of nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorous) and/or sediment load reduction in the realms of agriculture, stormwater, air, and septic. Projects may be focused in the following categories: 1) New Techniques, 2) New Information, 3) New Programs. Deadline, March 7. Read the full announcement.

The U.S. Borlaug Fellows in Global Food Security graduate research grant supports exceptional graduate students who are interested in developing a component of their graduate research in a developing country setting and in collaboration with a mentor from an International Agricultural Research Center (IARC) or a qualifying National Agricultural Research System (NARS) unit. U.S. citizenship is required and applicants must be enrolled in an accredited U.S. graduate program at the time of application. Deadline, April 11. Read the full announcement.

The overall goal of the Organic Transitions Program (ORG) is to support the development and implementation of research, extension and higher education programs to improve the competitiveness of organic livestock and crop producers, as well as those who are adopting organic practices. In FY 2014, ORG will continue to prioritize environmental services provided by organic farming systems in the area of soil conservation and climate change mitigation, including greenhouse gases (GHG). Two new priorities have been added to support (1) the development of educational tools for Cooperative Extension personnel and other agricultural professionals who advise producers on organic practices and (2) the development of cultural practices and other allowable alternatives to substances recommended for removal from the National Organic Programs National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. Practices and systems to be addressed include those associated with organic crops, organic animal production, and organic systems integrating plant and animal production. Deadline, April 15. Read the full announcement.

Science News

The United States Cropland Data Layer (CDL) is used for a wide range of purposes, including making disaster assessments and providing background information for policy decisions. A recent, open access paper in Agronomy Journal investigated the accuracy of the CDL’s land-use estimates. Land uses were visually identified at 14,400 points in high-resolution remote sensing data obtained for South Dakota in 2006 and 2012. The visually identified land uses were then compared with land uses predicted by the CDL. The analysis showed that accuracy of the CDL was land use dependent. Read the full article.

Despite the four-year drought that has parched California and led to mandatory restrictions on water use, farmers there have kept feeding the country. California produces more of 66 different food crops than any other state, $54 billion of food annually. Maintaining this level of productivity has been quite a challenge in recent years and is likely to become more difficult as weather patterns, available water and growing seasons shift further and threats of invasive weeds, pests and pathogens rise. If agriculture is to have any chance of answering these challenges, we must have new and improved techniques and technologies. The problem is that agricultural innovation has not kept pace. Read the full article.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten ideas about food from a lot of people who grow it, regulate it, supply it, cook it, study it and just think about it. And the list of potential improvements, from farm to table, is long. But making the changes necessary to fix the problems in both our agriculture (pollution, greenhouse gases, soil erosion) and in our diets (too few vegetables, too many calories) requires a fundamental shift in attitude. We all have to pay attention to things that haven’t been on our radar. And so, although there are many smart suggestions floating around, I’m focusing on 10 that have a ripple effect: changes that, with luck, will beget other changes that, ultimately, can change the zeitgeist. Read the full article.

Communities of soil-dwelling bacteria and fungi are crucial to plants. They help plants take up nutrients and minerals from the dirt and can even extend root systems, providing more access to food and water. They also help plants grow, cope with stress, bolster immune responses and ward off pests and diseases. Now scientists at agricultural companies are digging through the dirt, like prospectors panning for gold, to find the exact microbes that make specific crops grow better. Agribusiness firms Novozymes and Monsanto are leading the way by coating seeds with microbes, planting them on farms across the U.S. and harvesting the crops to see how they fared. Read the full article.

Something was different about a lot of the Hershey’s kisses in your stocking this year: The popular chocolates no longer contain sugar made in Minnesota. For decades, the Hershey Co. has used sugar made from both sugar beets and sugar cane, but it decided earlier this year to stop buying beet sugar because it comes from genetically modified, or GM, seeds that some consumers don’t like. Hershey, with 2014 sales of $7.4 billion and more than 80 brands of candy sold around the world, was a huge customer for beet sugar farmers, and its decision was significant enough to be noted earlier this month at two annual shareholder meetings of sugar beet cooperatives. Read the full article.

Drought and extreme heat slashed global cereal harvests between 1964 and 2007 – and the impact of these weather disasters was greatest in North America, Europe and Australasia, according to a new study published in Nature led by UBC and McGill University researchers. At a time when global warming is projected to produce more extreme weather, the study provides the most comprehensive look yet at the influence of such events on crop area, yields and production around the world. Read the full article.

There are many different types of genetically modified plants and animals, although GM crops are frequently modified to make them less susceptible to pests. Genetic engineering — especially as it relates to the food system — remains a hot-button issue in the U.S., with a primary concern among members of the public being the safety of GE products in terms of their impacts on public health and the environment. A growing movement has devoted itself to passing GE-labeling laws, for instance, which would identify products containing genetically modified organisms. But when it comes to GE-free farming zones, the concern is largely an economic one. Read the full article.

They shamed almonds, looked askance at genetic modification and antibiotics, and demanded to know more about what they ate. Those actions by U.S. food consumers may have made 2015 the year of the foodie, whose opinions and choices drove companies and policymakers to change the way food is grown and sold. Here are some of the top food issues of 2015. Read the full article.

Nominations are still open for the 2016 Borlaug CAST Communication Award, an honor that recognizes professionals actively working in the agricultural, environmental, or food sectors who are promoting agricultural science in the public policy arena. This award has become an influential component in the efforts to keep agricultural issues and programs in the public eye and in front of national and world policymakers. Application deadline, Feb. 1. Learn more and apply here.

Sources: USDA; AAAS; ScienceInsider; The New York Times; Grist; The Des Moines Register; CNN; AGree News; Washington Post; Automotive News; Star Tribune; UBC News; The LA Times; CAST News; The Guardian; Reuters; Wall Street Journal;

Vision: The Societies Washington, DC Science Policy Office (SPO) will advocate the importance and value of the agronomic, crop and soil sciences in developing national science policy and ensuring the necessary public-sector investment in the continued health of the environment for the well being of humanity. The SPO will assimilate, interpret, and disseminate in a timely manner to Society members information about relevant agricultural, natural resources and environmental legislation, rules and regulations under consideration by Congress and the Administration.

This page of the ASA-CSSA-SSSA web site will highlight current news items relevant to Science Policy. It is not an endorsement of any position.