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15 May 2019
In This Issue:
Policy News
~ House moves on half of the FY2020 spending bills, on pace to finish before the Senate starts~ President Trump updates FY2020 budget request
~ ERS, NIFA relocation finalists announced
~ After outcry, USDA will no longer require scientists to label research ‘preliminary’
~ Senator’s queries prompt NIH and NSF to clarify how they monitor foreign research ties
~ Senate Agriculture Committee sends three USDA nominees to full Senate for vote
~ House passes bill to force U.S. to stay in Paris climate agreement
~ House Science Committee leaders introduce bill to boost participation in STEM
Science and Society News
~ 2019 Career Development Series-The Road Trip of Your Career Webinar - Free for ASA, CSSA, SSSA Members~ Benchmarks report on American innovation
~ Saturated buffers are a new option on the conservation menu
~ 1 million species face extinction — soil could be a solution
~ Op-ed: Agriculture faces a scientific innovation drought
~ Submit an abstract by May 29 to save $$ and join us at the 2019 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, Nov. 10-13
~ Joint statement of western hemisphere agriculture leaders
~ This global map of manure could help save farming as we know it
~ Enhanced technique in soil column flood simulations
~ California is making a weak effort to turn agriculture into a climate change fix
~ Bayer loses third glyphosate lawsuit, plaintiffs awarded more than $2 billion in damages
~ New Job Postings on the ASA, CSSA, SSSA Careers site include ASA, CSSA, SSSA position
International Corner
~ Denmark’s Ethics Council calls for updated GMO law~ The world needs to get serious about managing sand, U.N. report says
~ Nigeria approves two GMO cotton varieties to increase output
~ Results from the first economic evaluation of soil and nutrient loss in Malawi
~ German research promised a decade of budget increases
~ Plant genomics unearths Africa's ‘fertile crescent’
Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities
~ Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems~ Research Opportunities Related to Coastlines and People
~ Bioenergy Technologies Office Multi-Topic Funding Opportunity Announcement
~ NCRS – Soil Science Collaborative Research
~ AFRI - Foundational and Applied Science Program
~ Stave-Level Conservation Innovative Grants
~ Opportunity in Bioinformatics, Microbiome, Quantum Biology and Synthetic Biology/Synthetic Cell
~ EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program Track-1
Policy News
(TOP) ~ House moves on half of the FY2020 spending bills, on pace to finish before the Senate starts
With the goal of passing all twelve Fiscal Year (FY2020) appropriations bills before the Memorial Day recess, the House is moving full-speed ahead on the FY2020 appropriations process. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee approved the spending allocations the twelve FY2020 spending bills, providing an increase for each of the dozen measures. The House has released six spending bills so far including the Energy-Water bill which provides $6.87 billion, a four percent increase for the Department of Energy-Office of Science. The Senate is expected to release its first FY2020 spending bills in early-June. Get the latest Budget and Appropriations news here.
(TOP) ~ President Trump updates FY2020 budget request
President Donald Trump sent congressional spending leaders an update to his fiscal 2020 budget, reneging on some funding proposals and adding extra requests for cash elsewhere. The update calls for scaling back the president's previous proposal to cut funding for the Special Olympics and seeks extra funding for returning American astronauts to the moon in 2024. The amendments cover funding for the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, State and Transportation, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ ERS, NIFA relocation finalists announced
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the finalists of 136 Expressions of Interest received from parties in 35 states vying to become the new homes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The Greater Kansas City region, Research Triangle Park, and multiple locations within the state of Indiana are the three finalists. St Louis and Madison, WI are still under consideration as alternates. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ After outcry, USDA will no longer require scientists to label research ‘preliminary’
The Agriculture Department has dropped its demand that staff scientists label peer-reviewed research as “preliminary,” after angry protests followed a Washington Post story disclosing the policy. Acting USDA chief scientist Chavonda Jacobs-Young released a memo that replaced the July policy. It requires the following language when disclaimers are necessary: “The findings and conclusions in this [publication/presentation/blog/report] are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.” Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Senator’s queries prompt NIH and NSF to clarify how they monitor foreign research ties
Responding to the rising concern within Congress that foreign governments are taking advantage of the open U.S. research enterprise, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have recently tweaked their grantmaking process to better monitor the foreign ties of the researchers they fund. And although there are subtle differences in how the two agencies are approaching the task, the goal is the same: to collect more information about the foreign affiliations of grantees. When it comes to policing suspicious relationships, however, neither agency sits in the driver’s seat. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Senate Agriculture Committee sends three USDA nominees to full Senate for vote
U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, announced the Committee voted to favorably report the USDA nominations of Mindy Brashears to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety; Naomi Earp to be Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights; and Scott Hutchins to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics. The nominees may now be considered by the full U.S. Senate for confirmation. The Committee held a hearing on the nominees on November 28. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ House passes bill to force U.S. to stay in Paris climate agreement
The House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday designed to force the United States to stay in the Paris accord, in a rebuke to President Trump, who has promised to withdraw from the landmark climate agreement inked under his predecessor, Barack Obama. The Democratic bill, which passed 231 to 190 in a vote largely along party lines, stands little chance of approval in the GOP-controlled Senate. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ House Science Committee leaders introduce bill to boost participation in STEM
Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) together introduced H.R. 2528, the STEM Opportunities Act. The legislation would require more comprehensive demographic data collection on the recipients of federal research awards and STEM faculty at U.S. universities, as well as the development of consistent federal policies on federal research opportunities. The bill also mandates that the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy develop guidance for universities and federal laboratories to aid them in identifying any cultural and institutional barriers in the recruitment and retention of minority, rural and underrepresented students. Read the full article.
Science and Society News
(TOP) ~ 2019 Career Development Series-The Road Trip of Your Career Webinar - Free for ASA, CSSA, SSSA Members
In the beginning, we’re focused on building our careers as individual contributors. Then, as we move into more advanced stages of our career, we take on management roles with new and different responsibilities. Many will continue on this path to take on leadership and administrative roles. How can you prepare now to make this leap then? What knowledge, skills and abilities will you need to meet the unknown challenges? Join us for this free webinar "Switching Gears: Transitioning to Administration" to learn what is different at the upper levels of leadership and what you can do to prepare for this transition. Register here.
(TOP) ~ Benchmarks report on American innovation
This week, the Task Force on American Innovation released a report that analyzes a series of benchmarks to measure U.S. scientific leadership in comparison to other countries. The report, “2019 Benchmarks: Second Place America? Increasing Challenges to U.S. Scientific Leadership,” notes that while the U.S. has a rich history of global leadership in science and technology, leadership is eroding in a number of areas, for example, investment in research and development, the creation of new knowledge, and STEM education and workforce. TFAI is a coalition of organizations from industry, academia and professional societies. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA were co-sponsors of the report. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Saturated buffers are a new option on the conservation menu
Tile drainage is a necessary part of crop production across the US Midwest which has been linked to chronic nitrate pollution. Saturated buffers are an edge-of-field conservation practice to reduce nitrate pollution from tile-drained fields, but because this is a relatively new practice, many questions remain about its potential application. In a paper recently published in Agricultural & Environmental Letters, researchers used a simple GIS approach with publicly available datasets to estimate the total stream length suitable for saturated buffer implementation across eleven Midwestern states. They then used those results to estimate the reduction in nitrate pollution assuming saturated buffers were installed in all the suitable locations. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ 1 million species face extinction — soil could be a solution
An intergovernmental science-policy group of the United Nations found — and the United States agreed — that 1 million species are threatened with extinction, and that one factor in that decline was the decline of carbon in soil. Specifically, 5.6 gigatons of annual CO2 emissions are sequestered in marine and terrestrial ecosystems. That’s equivalent to 60 percent of global fossil fuel emission. The finding released in a report May 6 also found that it is not too late to stop this decline, but action is needed immediately at the local, country, and global level. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Op-ed: Agriculture faces a scientific innovation drought
The problems that… agriculture faces can be solved by scientific research and innovation. But the breakneck rise of consumer prices hasn’t been matched by government investment in agricultural research. In 1940, almost 40 percent of the federal investment in research and development was dedicated to the agricultural sciences. Today, U.S. agricultural research funding represents less than 2 percent of the total. The federal government’s support for the scientific innovation needed by this sector has run dry, and our farmers have lost too much ground to overseas competitors. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Submit an abstract by May 29 to save $$ and join us at the 2019 Annual Meeting in San Antonio, TX, Nov. 10-13
Share your science! 2019 ASA, CSSA, SSSA Annual Meeting November 10-13, "Embracing the Digital Environment". The Annual Meeting is one of the few gatherings that bring together approximately 4,000 scientific leaders from industry, government agencies, and academic institutions in one unique environment. This year’s meeting will feature more than 3,500 technical presentations, along with a host of networking events and award ceremonies. Learn more here.
(TOP) ~ Joint statement of western hemisphere agriculture leaders
Western Hemisphere agriculture leaders met today on the margins of the G-20 Agricultural Ministerial in Niigata, Japan, affirming their intent to work together to champion global food security and agricultural trade on the basis of sound science and risk analysis principles. Following the meeting, top agricultural officials from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States issued the following statement. Read the statement here.
(TOP) ~ This global map of manure could help save farming as we know it
To grow the world’s wheat, corn, and beans, farmers need phosphorus—an essential nutrient that comes from bird and bat droppings and rock deposits. But the global supply of easily mineable phosphorus is dwindling; to stave off the coming drought, scientists are exploring an alternative: recycling animal manure for its phosphorus content. Now, they’ve come up with the world’s first map of this underappreciated resource, which shows that most manure is exactly where farmers need it—in their own backyards. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Enhanced technique in soil column flood simulations
Intact soil column studies have been widely used as lab simulations in determining the effects of long-term inundation on nutrient flux in soils. However, after applying documented “flooding procedures” to short-term simulations, large initial spikes of nutrients resulted from physical disturbance of the soil surface directly following the addition of water to the soil columns, resulting in an overestimation of nutrients than what may naturally occur. In an article recently published in Agricultural & Environmental Letters, researchers developed an enhanced laboratory protocol that significantly improved the accuracy of nutrient flux measurements following short-term inundation. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ California is making a weak effort to turn agriculture into a climate change fix
Agriculture generates 9% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, which makes it the state’s fourth-largest emitter, after transportation, industry and buildings. But agriculture — often seen as an enemy of the environment — is the only one of these sectors with the potential to also remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. What’s called regenerative or carbon-focused farming — composting, minimizing tillage, using cover crops and crop rotation, planting hedgerows and windbreaks to foster biodiversity and cut down on blowing soil, and retaining crop residue on farmland — can slow the carbon loss and even pull it, through photosynthesis, from the atmosphere into vegetation and soil. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Bayer loses third glyphosate lawsuit, plaintiffs awarded more than $2 billion in damages
Bayer has lost another glyphosate lawsuit. A California jury has awarded $2.055 billion to Alva and Alberta Pilliod of Livermore, California. The jury in California’s Alameda County Superior Court ruled that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma in both of the Pilliods, who have used the herbicide since the 1970, according to a news release by the Environmental Working Group, a group critical of Bayer’s glyphosate strategies and technologies. This is the third trial since August 2018 in which a California jury found that glyphosate caused cancer. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ New Job Postings on the ASA, CSSA, SSSA Careers site include ASA, CSSA, SSSA position
Join Us! The Manager of Student and Early Career Programs will student programs (undergraduate and graduate) and early career members to increase use, value and satisfaction of membership in ASA, CSSA, and SSSA. Management of the programs also includes working with committees, promotion, financial management, evaluation, and the use of technology for communications – both to member and external audiences. This Manager position requires a strong knowledge/understanding of diverse member needs (or willingness to learn), understand the opportunities that many different technologies present for effective communications, exhibit a high-level of attention to detail, and ability to work with many different members, staff, and vendors to ensure successful programs. Apply or refer a colleague!
International Corner
(TOP) ~ Denmark’s Ethics Council calls for updated GMO law
The Danish Council of Ethics recommends that legislation regarding the approval of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) be changed to help achieve sustainability objectives. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ The world needs to get serious about managing sand, U.N. report says
Our reliance on sand is staggering—by volume, the amount we use is second only to water. As a key component of cement, asphalt, and glass, sand is integral to every aspect of our lives. It is in our phones, our schools, our hospitals, and our roads. Globally, humans consume up to 50 billion metric tons of sand and gravel every year, amounting to 18 kilograms per person per day. But our insatiable demand for sand now poses “one of the major sustainability challenges of the 21st century,” and meeting it will require “improved governance of global sand resources,” concludes a United Nations report. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Nigeria approves two GMO cotton varieties to increase output
Nigeria approved two genetically modified varieties of cotton for use by the nation’s farmers to help boost supply to its textile industry and cut lint imports of as much as 115 billion naira ($319 million) a year. The strains were modified by the Institute of Agricultural Research at the Ahmadu Bello University in the northern city of Zaria in collaboration with privately owned Mayco Nigeria Ltd. to include a gene that makes it pest resistant. The changes make it possible for these cotton types to overcome bollworm, “the most devastating pest in cotton production,” increasing output more than threefold to more than 4 tons per hectare. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Results from the first economic evaluation of soil and nutrient loss in Malawi
The pilot project “Economic evaluation of soil and nutrient loss in Malawi” , analysed the economic impact of both soil and soil nutrient loss in Malawi with new country-representative data on soil erosion and nutrients loss indicators collected through field surveys, merged with detailed climatic data and socio-economic information. Soil/nutrient loss was translated into yield loss, the micro and macroeconomic economic impact of loss on agricultural production as a result of soil degradation was estimated, best practices were then identified to mitigate the soil and nutrient loss events in pair with net benefits in terms of growth of economic income, food security and poverty. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ German research promised a decade of budget increases
German research organizations cheered a decision announced by state and federal ministers to increase research budgets by 3% a year for the next decade—a total boost of €17 billion over that time. For more than a decade, German research organizations have enjoyed consistent budget increases—3% boosts every year since 2006, even during downturns in the German economy. But some observers have worried that falling tax revenues and deep disagreements between state and federal ministers could bring an end to the largesse. Read the full article.
(TOP) ~ Plant genomics unearths Africa's ‘fertile crescent’
Wheat and other plants that feed much of the world today were likely first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East. But another early cradle of agriculture lay thousands of kilometers away, around West Africa's Niger River Basin, a flurry of plant genomic studies is showing. Several of the continent's traditional food crops got their start there: a cereal called pearl millet and Africa's own version of rice. The recent findings pinpoint the wild ancestors of some of Africa's most important crops, highlighting reservoirs of genes that could be exploited to boost the productivity and disease resistance of the domesticated varieties. Read the full article.
Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities
(TOP) ~ Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems
Applications to the FY 2019 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative - Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) Request for Applications (RFA) must focus on approaches that promote transformational changes in the U.S. food and agriculture system within the next 25 years. NIFA seeks creative and visionary applications that take a systems approach, and that will significantly improve the supply of abundant, affordable, safe, nutritious, and accessible food, while providing sustainable opportunities for expansion of the bioeconomy through novel animal, crop, and forest products and supporting technologies. These approaches must demonstrate current and future social, behavioral, economic, health, and environmental impacts. Additionally, the outcomes of the work being proposed must result in societal benefits, including promotion of rural prosperity and enhancement of quality of life for those involved in food and agricultural value chains from production to utilization and consumption. Letter of intent deadline, June 4. Read the full announcement.
(TOP) ~ Research Opportunities Related to Coastlines and People
Through Coastlines and People (CoPe), NSF is interested in supporting projects to build capacity and explore research focused on understanding the impacts of coastal environmental variability and natural hazards on populated coastal regions. CoPe projects should explore the complex interface between coastal natural processes, geohazards, people and their natural and built environments. CoPe will include coastal variability and hazards on a range of spatial and temporal scales, from local to global and seconds to millenia to put current changes in context of pre-anthropogenic changes. The landscape of individuals interested in coastal research is diverse, including but not limited to researchers, decision-makers, practitioners (individuals dealing with the day to day operations in coastal areas), and stakeholders (communities impacted by coastal change). The following funding mechanisms are available to provide support for a spectrum of coastal interests from scientists to stakeholders, to develop partnerships and build the networks needed to delve more deeply into these ideas and/or explore novel ones, and to conduct small pilot projects related to CoPe. Awards for Research Coordination Networks, Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research, Conferences, INTERN supplements are available. Deadlines vary per program. Read the full announcement.
(TOP) ~ Bioenergy Technologies Office Multi-Topic Funding Opportunity Announcement
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will provide funding to address the highest priority R&D areas within biofuel technologies, bioproducts, and biopower. It includes Areas of Interest (AOIs) from all five BETO programs: Feedstock Supply and Logistics; Advanced Algal Systems; Conversion; Advanced Development and Optimization; and Sustainability and Strategic Analysis. Each AOI supports BETO’s objectives to reduce the minimum selling price of drop-in biofuels, lower the cost of biopower, enable high-value products from biomass or waste resources, and improve the quality of feedstock characterization and reliability of biorefinery operations. Concept paper deadline, June 3. Read the full announcement.
(TOP) ~ NCRS – Soil Science Collaborative Research
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces availability to apply for cooperative research awards focused on soil science and soil survey research topics and needs. The objectives of the research are to promote research collaboration between NRCS SPSD and university cooperators on significant national and regional issues. Proposals exhibiting substantial collaboration between the applicant, multiple National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) cooperators (i.e., multi-state projects), and NRCS soil scientists (National Soil Survey Center (NSSC) research soil scientists, soil survey regional and Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) Soil Survey Office (SSO) soil scientists, State soil scientists, and/or resource soil scientists) will receive preference during the evaluation and selection process. Deadline, June 3. Read the full announcement.
(TOP) ~ AFRI - Foundational and Applied Science Program
The AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program supports grants in six AFRI priority areas to advance knowledge in both fundamental and applied sciences important to agriculture. The six priority areas are: Plant Health and Production and Plant Products; Animal Health and Production and Animal Products; Food Safety, Nutrition, and Health; Bioenergy, Natural Resources, and Environment; Agriculture Systems and Technology; and Agriculture Economics and Rural Communities. Research-only, extension-only, and integrated research, education and/or extension projects are solicited in this Request for Applications (RFA). See Foundational and Applied Science RFA for specific details. Deadlines vary per program, but Letter of Intent deadlines as early as June 9. Read the full announcement.
(TOP) ~ Stave-Level Conservation Innovative Grants
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency under the United States Department of Agriculture (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 the following several states. See the links for full announcement details and deadlines.
Kentucky – June 14
Montana – Deadline July 1
West Virginia – Deadline July 1
New York – Deadline July 3
Pennsylvania – Deadline July 7
Pacific Islands – Deadline July 12
New Jersey – Deadline July 14
Tennessee – Deadline July 15
(TOP) ~ Opportunity in Bioinformatics, Microbiome, Quantum Biology and Synthetic Biology/Synthetic Cell
The NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences (NSF/BIO) and the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) are pleased to announce new topical areas. Proposals relevant to the following priority areas: 1) Biological informatics; 2) Understanding Biological Microbiome; 3) Quantum Biology; 4) Synthetic approaches to address fundamental biological questions. Letter of intent deadline, July 2. Read the full announcement.
(TOP) ~ EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Program Track-1
Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-1 (RII Track-1) awards provide up to $20 million total over five years to support research-driven improvements to jurisdictions’ physical and cyber infrastructure and human capital development in topical areas selected by the jurisdiction's EPSCoR steering committee as having the best potential to improve future R&D competitiveness. The project’s research activities must align with the specific research priorities identified in the submitting jurisdiction’s approved Science and Technology (S&T) Plan. Letter of intent deadline, July 2. Read the full announcement.
Sources: The Hill; USDA; Washington Post; ScienceInsider; AAAS; Task Force on American Innovation; LA Times; Successful Farming; Bloomberg; FOA; Food Navigator; Science Magazine; NSF; DOE-Office of Science
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.