Science Policy Report

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19 February 2020

In This Issue:

Policy News

Science and Society News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Policy News

President Trump released his fiscal year 2021 budget request on February 10. Overall, the request was what expected and similar to what the administration had put forward in the past. Most federal research programs received at least single digit funding cuts in the President’s budget. Federal R&D overall was cut by almost 9%. One bright spot in the President’s budget request was the competitive grants program within NIFA, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). AFRI receive a whopping 41 percent increase in funding for FY2021, seeing its budget go from $425 million to $600 million. Unfortunately, most of the other NIFA programs received funding cuts in order to provide the $175 million funding increase for AFRI. You can see funding details for all the research programs we follow here.

 

The Agriculture Department has published a “USDA Science Blueprint” to serve as its vision for and commitment to scientific research through 2025. It lays out five overarching themes for research, education, and economics, each with established objectives, strategies, and evidence-building measures. The five Program Themes include: 1) sustainable ag intensification, 2) ag-climate adaptation, 3) food and nutrition translation, 4) value-added innovations, and 5) ag science policy leadership. See the full report here.
 

Science and Society News

This conference will provide the opportunity to better understand and implement sustainable agronomy in the field. Learn the drivers, economics, agronomics, environmental benefits, and implementation techniques of sustainable crop production. Economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainable agronomy will be considered. Direct access to the foremost experts in Sustainable Agronomy! Learn more and register here.
 

Agricultural soils are largely degraded or under threat of degradation. Agricultural practices are now seeking to improve soils while also maintaining productivity. Cover crops are one such practice gaining popularity. However, relatively little is known regarding how cover cropping will affect soil microbial community composition and function. In an article recently published in Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment, researchers report on the effect cover cropping has on soil microbes. This research spanned multiple actively managed farms across Virginia. The team found that cover cropping increased active microbial biomass by 64% and bioavailable soil carbon by 37% in one season. Read the full article.
 

Mary Ellen Camire has some good news about french fries. Fries made with the new potato varieties AF4296‐3 and Easton have much lower levels of a probable carcinogen than those made with the popular Russet Burbank variety, says the University of Maine professor of food science and human nutrition. Acrylamide is a probable carcinogen in fried potatoes; during the frying process the chemical forms from sugars and an amino acid that are naturally in potatoes. Read the full article.
 

As a benefit of ASA, CSSA, SSSA membership, connect by visiting the Member Directories found online. Search by name, scientific communities and divisions, location, and more. See information for ASA here, CSSA here, and SSSA here.
 

There are many statistical measures that show how productive the U.S. is. Its economy is the largest in the world and grew at a rate of 4.1 percent last quarter, its fastest pace since 2014. The unemployment rate is near the lowest mark in a half century. What can be harder to decipher is how Americans use their land to create wealth. The 48 contiguous states alone are a 1.9 billion-acre jigsaw puzzle of cities, farms, forests and pastures that Americans use to feed themselves, power their economy and extract value for business and pleasure. Read the full article.
 

Human society is literally built on soil. It feeds the world and produces vital fuel and fiber. But most people rarely give soil a second thought. Recently, though, soil has been getting some well-deserved attention from environmental organizations, policymakers and industry leaders. It has been covered in news articles, argued over in policy debates and has even received an international day of recognition. However, current efforts to promote carbon storage in soil miss a key point: Not all soil carbon is the same. As scientists focusing on soil ecology and sustainability, we believe that managing soil carbon effectively requires taking its differences into account. Read the full article.
 

Recognize colleagues with an award or Fellow nomination. Nominate deserving colleagues for awards by March 12. Students apply for scholarships by March 19. Contact 608-273-8080 or email awards@sciencesocieties.org with any questions. See the awards information for ASA here, CSSA here, and SSSA here.

 

Getting water from one point to another with maximum efficiency is no easy task—it's one that has challenged engineers for centuries. It's no surprise that water flowing through the soil itself might be difficult to quantify. After, all, it's finding the path of least resistance, flowing through pores between soil particles and pipes created by worms, insects, and tree roots. This tendency—for water to move through soils preferentially via macropores and soil pipes—is called nonuniform flow. Nonuniform flow results in water saturating some areas of soil more than others, even under the same rainfall or watering conditions. Though scientists have known about nonuniform flow for more than 100 years, the phenomenon is not well understood or quantified. Read the full article.
 

Dog detectives might be able to help save ailing citrus groves, research suggests. Scientists trained dogs to sniff out a crop disease called citrus greening that has hit orange, lemon and grapefruit orchards in Florida, California and Texas. The dogs can detect it weeks to years before it shows up on tree leaves and roots, the researchers report. Dog sleuths are also faster, cheaper and more accurate than people collecting hundreds of leaves for lab analysis, according to the study in the Proceedings of National Academies of Sciences. Citrus greening — also called huanglongbing — is caused by a bacteria that is spread by a tiny insect that feeds on the leaves and stems of citrus trees. Once a tree is infected, there's no cure. Read the full article.
 

The online conversation around pesticides is expected to explode by 212 percent over the next two years, despite the fact that consumers aren’t really sure what pesticides are. New research from The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) illustrates the confusion and growing concern around crop protection products and the lesson for agriculture that definitions don’t matter. Instead of pointing consumers to a dictionary, those involved in growing food should engage in conversations that authentically and transparently speak to the topics consumers value most. Read the full article.
 

Many New York tomato growers are familiar with the scourge of bacterial canker – the wilted leaves and blistered fruit that can spoil an entire season’s planting. For those whose livelihoods depend on tomatoes, this pathogen – Clavibacter michiganensis – is economically devastating. In a new paper, Cornell researchers showed that wild tomato varieties are less affected by bacterial canker than traditionally cultivated varieties. The team wanted to understand how bacteria spread and colonize in wild tomatoes versus cultivated ones. They zeroed in on the plants’ vascular systems – specifically their xylem vessels. Read the full article.
 

Midwest crop production is dominated by two summer annual crops grown in rotation, corn and soybean. This rotation leaves a productivity gap during the spring and autumn. Winter oilseed crops, such as pennycress and winter camelina, can fill this gap and provide ecosystem and economic benefits. In a recent study, soon to be published in Agronomy Journal, researchers evaluated relay‐cropping production systems at three sites across Minnesota. Total seed production of the system (winter oilseed crop + soybean) was increased by 20% at one site, whereas at the other two sites, total yields were similar when compared with mono‐cropped soybean. Read the full article.
 

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science is accepting nominations for the 2020 Enrico Fermi Award. The Fermi Award recognizes individuals for their distinguished leadership, accomplishments, and service related to science and research supported by the Energy Department. The Fermi Award recognizes scientists of international stature for their exceptional scientific, technical, engineering, policy, and/or management achievements related to the broad missions of the U.S. Department of Energy and its programs. Nominations due, April 9. Read the full announcement.
 

International Corner

Recent reports are taking an economic view of climate impacts, making a clear case for acting early rather than reacting late. The Global Commission on Adaptation’s 2019 report, Adapt Now: A Global Call for Leadership on Climate Resilience, warns leaders around the world that we simply cannot afford the costs of inaction on climate change.  The report avoids creating yet another analysis of what may happen as a result of climate change and estimating the impacts associated with inaction — instead, it assesses the benefits of adapting to what we know is likely to happen.  The report finds that investing in adaptation often provides a triple dividend: avoided economic losses, positive economic opportunities, and additional social and environmental benefits. Read the full article.
 

With Nigeria’s recent approval of genetically modified (GM) cowpea, Prof. Mohammad Ishiyaku reached the end of what he termed a “10-year slow walk journey.” Ishiyaku and other IAR scientists conducted a decade of intensive research and field trials to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the crop, which is also known as Bt cowpea in reference to the gene that confers resistance to the destructive pod borer pest. Their work finally met success last December when the government approved the commercial release of PBR cowpea — its first GM food crop. Pest-resistant Bt cotton was commercialized in mid-2018. Read the full article.
 

Australia’s vineyards, which make up the fourth largest exporter of wine in the world, are feeling the effects of the wildfires despite little direct damage. While most vineyards have been spared from the wildfires, smoke contamination is raising concerns. Smoke contamination is a growing threat to the $336 billion global wine industry as uncontrolled fires break out with more severity in Australia, California and other grape-growing regions. Grapes, a type of fruit able to absorb smoke, can release the smoke compounds during the fermentation process resulting in tainted flavor of the wine. Read the full article.
 

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

NASA’s Space Technology Research Grants Program has released its Early Career Faculty (ECF) solicitation, which requests proposals from accredited U.S. universities on behalf of their outstanding new faculty members seeking to pursue innovative, early-stage space technology research in a topic area specifically requested in the solicitation. The solicitation topic of Advanced Plant / Food Production Technologies for Space seeks proposals to advance technologies for plant and food production for human spaceflight that address the development and genetic engineering of crops with a high harvest index as well as cutting-edge technologies to enhance and monitor plant growth for long-duration exploration missions. Letter of intent deadline, February 26. Read the full announcement.
 

The NSF SBIR program focuses on transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial potential and/or societal benefit. Unlike programs geared toward fundamental research, the NSF SBIR program supports startups and small businesses in the creation of deep technologies, getting discoveries out of the lab and into the market. The SBIR program solicits proposals from the small business sector consistent with NSF's mission to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense. Small businesses are eligible to submit a Phase II proposal between six and twenty-four months after the start date of their relevant NSF SBIR/STTR Phase I award. March 5. Read the full announcement.
 

The purpose of the Aquaculture Research program is to support the development of an environmentally and economically sustainable aquaculture industry in the U.S. and generate new science-based information and innovation to address industry constraints. Over the long term, results of projects supported by this program may help improve the profitability of the U.S. aquaculture industry, reduce the U.S. trade deficit, increase domestic food security, provide markets for U.S.-produced grain products, increase domestic aquaculture business investment opportunities, and provide more jobs for rural and coastal America. The Aquaculture Research program will fund projects that directly address major constraints to the U.S. aquaculture industry and focus on one or more of the following program priorities: (1) genetics of commercial aquaculture species; (2) critical disease issues impacting aquaculture species; (3) design of environmentally and economically sustainable aquaculture production systems; and (4) economic research for increasing aquaculture profitability. Deadline, April 22. Read the full announcement.
 

The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) Core Programs Track supports research aimed at understanding why organisms are structured the way they are and function as they do. Proposals are welcomed in all of the core scientific program areas supported by the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS). Areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to, developmental biology and the evolution of developmental processes, nervous system development, structure, modification, function, and evolution; biomechanics and functional morphology, physiological processes, symbioses and microbial interactions, interactions of organisms with biotic and abiotic environments, plant and animal genomics, and animal behavior. Proposals should focus on organisms as a fundamental unit of biological organization. Principal Investigators (PIs) are encouraged to apply systems approaches that will lead to conceptual and theoretical insights and predictions about emergent organismal properties. Proposals accepted at any time. Read the full announcement.
 

The goal of the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is to prepare graduate students for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission, by providing graduate thesis research opportunities at DOE laboratories.  The SCGSR program provides supplemental awards to outstanding U.S. graduate students to pursue part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE laboratory/facility in areas that address scientific challenges central to the Office of Science mission. The research opportunity is expected to advance the graduate students’ overall doctoral thesis while providing access to the expertise, resources, and capabilities available at the DOE laboratories/facilities. The SCGSR program provides supplemental funds for graduate awardees to conduct part of their thesis research at a host DOE laboratory/facility in collaboration with a DOE laboratory scientist within a defined award period. Collaborating DOE Laboratory Scientists may be from any of the participating DOE national laboratories/facilities. The award period for the proposed research project at DOE laboratories/facilities may range from 3 to 12 consecutive months. Deadline, May 6. Read the full announcement.
 

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers competitively awarded grants to qualified small businesses to support high quality research related to important scientific problems and opportunities in agriculture that could lead to significant public benefits. The program stimulates technological innovations in the private sector and strengthens the role of federal research and development in support of small businesses. All Phase II projects must have previously completed a successful USDA Phase I project before applying for a Phase II grant. Projects dealing with agriculturally-related manufacturing and alternative and renewable energy technologies are encouraged across all 2018 SBIR topic areas. program funds are allocated in proportion to the number of proposals received over 10 broad topic areas. Deadline, May 27. Read the full announcement.
 

Sources: AAAS; The White House; USDA; Bloomberg; University of Maine News; The Conversation; PBS; Food Integrity; Cornell News; DOE; Agrilinks; Alliance for Science; The Wall Street Journal; NASA; NSF;

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.