Science Policy Report

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14 April 2021

In This Issue:

Policy News

Science and Society News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Policy News

Members of Congress are currently working on their funding requests for fiscal year (FY) 2022. Now is the time for constituents like you to reach out to your members of Congress to help shape their funding priorities. Ag Research Caucus co-chairs, Rep. Jimmy Panetta and Rep. Rodney Davis, have released a “Dear Colleague” letter in support of three USDA research programs: the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA), and USDA-NIFA capacity programs. Please contact your Representative today and ask them to support food, agriculture, and natural resources research by signing the FY2022 USDA research “Dear Colleague” letter. 

The White House released an outline of the President’s FY 2022 budget priorities on April 9. Overall, it calls for a 16% increase in non-defense spending and includes major increases for many federal research agencies. The proposal provides $4 billion, or $647 million above the 2021 enacted level, for USDA’s research, education, and outreach programs. $7.4 billion, an increase of more than $400 million over the 2021 level, in the Department of Energy-Office of Science. And the National Science Foundation would get a whopping 20% - $1.7 billion – funding increase, to $10.2 billion. Within that total, an unspecified amount would go to a new directorate to foster emerging technologies needed to help the country outinnovate the rest of the world. Read the full article.

 

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA as part of multiple research coalitions, signed onto letters to Congressional leadership urging them to provide strong support to federal research funding agencies in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding process. Letters of support of USDA research programs, USDA conservation programs, NSF, and the DOE-Office of Science were sent to the Appropriations Committees in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. See all the FY2022 funding letters here.
 

U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) reintroduced the Climate Stewardship Act, a climate change bill focused on voluntary farm and ranch conservation practices, massive reforestation, and wetlands restoration.  The Climate Stewardship Act, inspired by measures implemented in FDR’s New Deal, can serve as a roadmap for investments in agriculture and nature-based climate solutions as Congress works to build out President Biden’s plan to create millions of jobs, rebuild America’s infrastructure, and mobilize the country to meet the challenge of the climate crisis. Read the full article.

The Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA) is a pilot project created in the 2018 Farm Bill for a USDA-based “Advanced Research Projects Agency” like DARPA or ARPA-E but for agriculture research. The program is authorized at $50 million, but has not yet received funding through the annual Congressional funding process. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA enlisted a group of experts to develop an AgARDA Roadmap that could be used by USDA as a guide for how the program should be set up. The Roadmap includes descriptions of the signature characteristics of ARPA agencies with respect to staff, organizational structure, and project management. Seven other scientific societies and university groups joined ASA, CSSA, and SSSA to send a letter to Secretary Vilsack asking him to prioritize AgARDA and develop a formal strategic plan. Read the letter here.
 

Science and Society News

In much of the world, climate change is altering regional growing conditions and making them more unpredictable. Famers are finding it harder to consistently grow enough food to meet increasing demand. Securing the world's food supply for the future, experts assert, requires us to tally the good and the bad in the current agricultural structure, including the infrastructure and technology in food distribution systems. Small farms, which account for about 90% of the world's 570 million farms, are particularly vulnerable to unpredictable changes in seasonal climate. How can we secure our future food supply and support the people who grow it? Read the full article.
 

Nitrogen pollution is one of agriculture’s biggest and most intractable problems. Crops can’t grow without the critical nutrient, and because sources of nitrogen are easy to come by—synthetic fertilizer is cheap and manure from large animal agriculture operations is plentiful—farmers often apply too much, to try to ensure the highest yields. In a new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, they identified 20 nitrogen “hotspots” across the U.S. The clusters of counties not only represent areas where a large proportion of surplus nitrogen is being applied; they are also places where researchers say there is significant potential to reverse the trend—to the benefit of farmers, local residents, and the environment. Read the full article.
 

Carbon capture is viewed by many as a last resort. These ‘negative emissions technologies’ store or sequester more greenhouse gas emissions than they produce. These come in two main forms: nature-based solutions such as reforestation and afforestation, and more technological solutions such as direct air carbon capture and storage, enhanced weathering, biochar, and soil carbon sequestration. As a 2020 report from the International Energy Agency argues, carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies are a critical part of ‘net-zero’ goals because they enable key sectors to reduce their emissions directly, but also help to balance some of the more intractable emissions. Read the full article.
 

Global agricultural productivity is 21% lower than it could have been without climate change, according to research published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The reduction is the equivalent of losing seven years of the gains recorded in farm productivity since the 1960s. For their project, scientists and economists developed an econometric model that linked year-to-year changes in weather and productivity measures with output from the latest climate models over six decades. They used the model to quantify the effect of human-caused climate change on overall productivity in the agricultural sector. Read the full article.
 

Quality data are foundational for scientific advancement. The Department of Energy Office of Science (SC) is committed to supporting high-value community data resources through the SC Public Reusable Research (PuRe) Data Resources program. SC PuRe Data Resources are data repositories, knowledge bases, analysis platforms, and other activities that make curated data publicly available to further scientific discovery and technical knowledge. Spanning the SC mission space, these data resources include a data center for atmospheric data and model products, data repositories and knowledge bases for biological and environmental research, and a materials database for physical sciences. Read the full article.
 

Neonicotinoids are highly toxic, water‐soluble insecticides that are used in the U.S. mostly as coatings on seeds of field crops like corn and cotton. Since neonicitinoids are water soluble, plants can absorb them, systemically protecting the seeds from insect pests for a few weeks. Unfortunately, this also means that if neonicitinoids escape fields, they can pollute freshwater ecosystems and negatively influence animal populations. New research in the Journal of Environmental Quality tracked neonicotinoids leaving no‐till fields. In plots that had not received neonicotinoids for years, the researchers planted thiamethoxam‐coated corn seeds and tracked for 12 months the neonicotinoid concentrations in water from surface and subsurface flow. Read the full article.
 

The International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) is seeking nominations for all Division and Commission Officer positions for 2022-2026, except Division Vice-Chairs. Submit your nomination including a 100-word bio and homepage URL to Ester Sztein, U.S. National Committee for Soil Science (esztein@nas.edu) by April 20 for submission by the National Academy of Sciences. Learn more and apply here. 

As farmers and ranchers are on a quest to understand the financial opportunities to sequester carbon, it's a journey more farmers are joining. The latest Ag Economy Barometer from Purdue University found between 30% and 40% of those surveyed say they are aware of opportunities to get paid for sequestering carbon. Yet, to date, only a small group has actually engaged in those discussions. As more people are aware of programs and companies offering carbon sequestration contracts, why aren’t more farmers and ranchers actually following through and signing a contract? It may be the financial piece of it. Read the full article.
 

Tobacco root rot disease is one of the most common and widely distributed soil‐borne diseases and often occurs along with tobacco bacterial wilt disease and tobacco black shank disease. However, the microorganism communities associated with the occurrence of this disease in this system remain poorly identified. New research in Agronomy Journal reports on the characteristics of the microbial community in the rhizosphere of tobacco and explores the potential microbiological indicators of tobacco root rot. Read the full article.
 

International Corner

Genome editing may help protect Kenya’s most important cash crop — tea grown in the country’s prime highlands — from the ravages of climate change. The crop is facing a near-century of sweeping climatic changes that could diminish its competitive savor. But a leading African scientist has proposed using the tools of biotechnology to build in climate resiliency and help maintain the signature flavor that gives Kenyan tea an edge in the international market. Read the full article.
 

Canada’s Nutrien Ltd, the world’s largest fertilizer producer by capacity, said on Thursday it aimed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 30% by 2030, in a plan costing the company up to $700 million. The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based company plans to deploy wind and solar energy at four potash plants by the end of 2025, replacing electricity generated by coal and natural gas. It also plans to expand its sequestration of carbon emissions from nitrogen fertilizer production and to invest in technology to capture nitrous oxide gas from its facilities. Read the full article.
 

The EU Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the European Green Deal and its ambitious agenda to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. With a series of policy recommendations focused on creating a sustainable food system from end to end, this strategy will have ripple effects throughout the food and agricultural value chain not just in Europe, but around the world. What does this mean for global food security and agricultural trade, and what might the implications be for U.S. agriculture specifically? Register for the next Farm Foundation Forum: Understanding the EU Farm to Fork Strategy and Its Implications for U.S. Agriculture, Tuesday, April 27 9:00-11:00am CDT. Register here.
 

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

The W.M. Keck Foundation invites applications to its Research Program. Through the program, grants will be awarded to research universities, medical colleges, and major private independent scientific and medical research institutions in support of projects that are focused on important and emerging areas of research; have the potential to develop breakthrough technologies, instrumentation, or methodologies; are innovative, distinctive and interdisciplinary; demonstrate a high level of risk due to unconventional approaches or by challenging a prevailing paradigm; and have the potential for transformative impact (e.g., the founding of a new field of research, the enabling of observations not previously possible, or the altered perception of a previously intractable problem). The program seeks to fund high-risk/high-impact work that lays the groundwork for new paradigms, technologies, and discoveries, save lives, and adds to the collective understanding of the world. Grants ranging between $500,000 and $5 million (though typically $2 million or less) will be awarded for periods of from one to five years. Deadline, May 1. Read the full announcement.
 

The U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) requests proposals to substantially expand and accelerate the availability of science-based information to inform producer decisions on the adoption and design of agroforestry systems. Agroforestry is the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits. The agreements awarded under this announcement will support the USDA goal to strengthen the stewardship of private lands through technology and research, and the need by natural resource professionals for information that supports producer adoption of agroforestry. Deadline, May 28. Read the full announcement.
 

The primary focus of the Noble Foundation granting program is funding agricultural research conducted by Noble Research Institute. In addition, funding is provided to charitable organizations that cultivate good health, support education and build stronger communities. Generally, the emphasis of our grantmaking is geographically focused on Oklahoma organizations and projects. The Noble Foundation will not consider requests for multiyear commitments. Proposals are considered only from 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations located within the United States. Deadline, June 1. Read the full announcement.
 

Persistent racial injustices and inequalities in the United States have led to renewed concern and interest in addressing systemic racism.  The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) seeks to support bold, ground-breaking, and potentially transformative projects addressing systemic racism in STEM. Proposals should advance racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research (both fundamental and applied) and practice.  Core to this funding opportunity is that proposals are led by, or developed and led in authentic partnership with, individuals and communities most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism.  The voices, knowledge, and experiences of those who have been impacted by enduring racial inequities should be at the center of these proposals. The proposed work should provide positive outcomes for the individuals and communities engaged and should recognize peoples’ humanity, experiences, and resilience. Proposals need to consider systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits, and how these barriers impact access to, retention in, and success in STEM education, research, and workforce development. Competitive proposals will be clear with respect to how the work advances racial equity and addresses systemic racism, as these constructs may have different meanings in different settings.  Deadline, July 13. Read the full proposal.

Sources: ScienceInsider; The White House; Insider NJ; Civil Eats; Successful Farming; Wired; DOE-SC; IUSS; Farm Journal; Reuters; Alliance for Science; Farm Foundation; Keck Foundation; USFS; Noble Foundation; 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.

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