Science Policy Report

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12 May 2021

In This Issue:

Policy News

Science and Society News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Policy News

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA responded to a Request for Information issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a request informed by President Biden’s Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The Societies offered ideas for leveraging existing programs to promote climate-smart agricultural practices; supporting emerging ecosystem services markets through fostering data collection, stakeholder communication, and nation-wide research programs; and investing in AgARDA, a new high-risk/high-reward-style agency for agricultural research. The Societies also emphasized the importance of supporting the graduate student research, increasing diversity, and addressing environmental justice. The Societies also signed on to a letter outlining the importance of biotechnology in climate-smart agriculture. 
 

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA joined the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and 350 agricultural organizations to call on Congress to invest $11.5 billion in the federal agricultural research infrastructure at colleges of agriculture. The letter was sent to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and emphasized that modern agricultural research and education facilities serve as the backbone of the nation's cutting-edge research and applied science solutions. The letter outlined a recent report that assessed the state of facilities at U.S. colleges and schools of agriculture, reporting that 69 percent of these buildings are at the end of their useful life and that the estimated cost to upgrade deferred maintenance for these buildings now as $11.5 billion. Read the letter here.
 

The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on USDA Research, Education and Economics (REE). The acting Undersecretary for REE, Chovonda Jacobs-Young, along with the leaders of NIFA, ARS, ERS and NASS all testified before the committee. In response to questions from subcommittee members, Dr. Jacobs-Young affirmed that responding to climate change, which touches everything from nutrition to agricultural sustainability, is a major focus, as is developing Centers of Excellence across the country to coordinate efforts among stakeholders. Topics covered in the hearing also included working with stakeholders to inform a strategic plan for AgARDA, nutrition and diet-related disease prevention, the timeline for digitizing and making available agriculture research publications and datasets, the science and technology necessary for a carbon bank, issues of REE staffing, priorities for refurbishing ARS facilities, and USDA’s role in President Biden’s government-wide climate initiatives. Watch a recording of the hearing here.
 

President Biden announced that he is nominating physical chemist Geraldine Richmond to be the Department of Energy’s under secretary for science. Richmond has spent most of her career at the University of Oregon and has longstanding ties to DOE, including five years as chair of the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, which serves the DOE Office of Science. Read the full article.
 

Competing bipartisan proposals for expanding the National Science Foundation will face their first votes this week. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is meeting Wednesday to consider amendments to the Endless Frontier Act, which proposes attaching a massive technology directorate to NSF. Meanwhile, a subcommittee of the House Science Committee is meeting on Thursday to advance the NSF for the Future Act, which proposes a more modestly sized directorate focused on “societal challenges” as part of a broader expansion of the agency. Outside their directly competing visions for a new directorate, the two bills differ significantly in scope, as the Endless Frontier Act is designed as a flagship national innovation initiative that will fit into a legislative package aimed at boosting U.S. competitiveness with China, whereas the NSF for the Future Act is a policy update for NSF as a whole that will be complemented by forthcoming legislative proposals for other science agencies. Read the full article.
 

The Biden administration detailed steps to achieve an ambitious goal to conserve nearly one-third of America’s lands and waters by 2030, relying on voluntary efforts to preserve public, private and tribal areas while also helping tackle climate change and create jobs. A report, with the lofty title “America the Beautiful,” calls for a decade-long commitment on projects nationwide to make the conservation and restoration of lands and waters an urgent priority. The plan would purify drinking water, increase green space, improve access to outdoor recreation, restore healthy fisheries, reduce the risk of wildfires and recognize the “oversized contributions” of farmers, ranchers, forest owners, fishers, hunters, rural communities and tribal nations. Read the full article.
 

Science and Society News

Anyone can submit an abstract and all are accepted to present at the 2021 International ASA, CSSA, SSSA Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, in November 7-10. Don't have details yet? No problem; submit now and update later! Full abstract fee and registration refunds are available so there’s no risk. Submit today!
 

Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, native of Trinidad and Tobago and a citizen of Denmark, will receive the 2021 World Food Prize for her groundbreaking research, critical insights and landmark innovations in developing holistic, nutrition-sensitive approaches to aquaculture and food systems. By bringing together interdisciplinary and international collaborators, she drove transformations in aquatic food systems to deliver improved nutrition, resilient ecosystems and secure livelihoods for millions of vulnerable people across the globe. Read the full announcement.
 

The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA), a carbon bank advocate, said the USDA should lay the foundation for the climate bank by first setting up a series of pilot projects to identify fruitful avenues for future action. The alliance did not suggest how long the pilot projects would run but said they would aid the development of carbon markets and the direction of the carbon bank. The pilot projects proposed by FACA would operate alongside but separate from existing USDA soil and water conservation programs. The pilot projects would focus on climate benefits and demonstrate measurable results in reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Read the full article.
 

Maize grain yield is commonly assumed to be source limited during the flowering period and sink limited during the subsequent period of active grain growth; however, environmental restrictions during active grain filling may strongly affect final kernel weight. In Crop Science, researchers in the Corn Belt of Argentina evaluated the effect of natural changes in the photothermal conditions during the grain‐filling period on kernel weight of different maize germplasm across several growing seasons. The team found that final kernel weight was closely affected by the photothermal environment explored during grain growth. Read the full article.
 

Researchers are applying and integrating layers of technologies -- including sensors, machine learning, artificial intelligence, high-throughput phenotyping platforms such as drones and small-scale rolling robots that can also fertilize, weed and cull single plants in a field -- with the ultimate goal of replacing farmers' reliance on heavy machinery and broadcast spraying in operations of all sizes. The researchers call their effort COALESCE – COntext Aware LEarning for Sustainable CybEr-agricultural systems. Introducing the latest cyber capabilities in sensing, modeling and reasoning to the real world of plants and soil, the researchers wrote in a project summary, will enable farmers to respond to crop stressors with lower cost, greater agility, and significantly lower environmental impact than current practices. Read the full article.
 

National Science Foundation Director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, took the helm of the agency last summer in the midst of the pandemic, leaving behind his position as executive vice president of the Arizona State University Knowledge Enterprise, where he was also founder and director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC). Read about his vision for NSF, keeping the United States at the forefront of global science, and diversity as a driver of innovation. Read the full article.
 

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) announced that the 2021 Borlaug CAST Communication Award goes to Sarah Evanega, research professor in the Department of Global Development with a joint appointment in the School of Integrative Plant Science in the College of Agriculture at Cornell University. Evanega is an adjunct faculty member at the Boyce Thompson Institute. Dr. Evanega also serves as the founding director of the Cornell Alliance for Science—a global communications effort that promotes evidence-informed decision-making across a range of science issues. She has been described as a pioneer, international leader, and icon of young science communication professionals. Read the full announcement.
 

When Microsoft Corp made a massive purchase of carbon credits in January, it turned to a relatively new source: farmers who plant crops meant to trap carbon in the soil. Microsoft bought nearly 200,000 of the farm-based credits at an undisclosed price - among the largest-ever purchases of agricultural credits - as part of a larger deal to buy 1.3 million credits. But the tech giant rejected far more of the more than 5 million credits offered by agriculture projects because of systemic problems with measuring their climate benefit. The Microsoft purchase underscores both the promise and the problems of the emerging industry in agriculture-based climate credits. Read the full article.
 

As the adoption of no-till practices has spread widely across parts of the U.S. over the past few decades, the approach has been touted as an important means of storing carbon in soil—and a key solution to solving the climate crisis. But despite its recent growth in popularity, “no-till” has no single, agreed-upon meaning. In fact, the phrase is often a misnomer. Most no-till farmers have not cut out tillage altogether and do not engage in other beneficial practices such as planting cover crops. As a result, these “seldom-till” farmers aren’t able to permanently store carbon in their soil. Read the full article.
 

The American Geosciences Institute is conducting a year-long study to capture the nature and extent of impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the geoscience workforce and academic programs. This study aims to understand how geoscience employers and educational institutions are changing their workplace and instructional environments and to discover which of these changes will become permanent. A brief online survey will be sent to study participants twice a month and will only take a few minutes to complete. Results from the study will be reported only in aggregate and in a manner that ensures the confidentiality of the responses. Study participants who participate as individuals will be asked about their current employment or enrollment status, geoscience-related activities, and other factors which may be impacted by the current crisis. Learn more and participate here.
 

Cattle are a wonderful tool for bringing degraded soils (cropland or pasture) back to healthy productivity. Animal impact (with proper timing and duration) can add organic matter and fertility and improve the soil biology. Managing the land with soil health in mind provides ecological and economic benefits. Doug Peterson is a rancher and soil health specialist--now retired from NRCS and doing private consulting and teaching with Understanding Ag, LLC, a regenerative agricultural consulting company that provides support to help clients reduce input costs, generate profits and ensure family farming futures. Read the full article.
 

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recognizes there are many outstanding contributions that our partners in the Land-grant Universities and other cooperating institutions and organizations have achieved. To recognize these achievements, the Partnership Awards Program was established in 2007. NIFA invites all Land-grant Universities and cooperating institutions and organizations supported by NIFA to submit nominations for the 2021 NIFA Partnership Awards Program. This program recognizes outstanding contributions, in support of NIFA’s mission, and aligned with the USDA Strategic Goals. NIFA is also seeking nominations for the NIFA Hall of Fame, which was created at the agency's five-year anniversary. Inductees into the NIFA Hall of Fame have worked, coordinated, or supported activities exemplifying NIFA’s synergy of excellence in any combination of research, education, and extension approaches on local, regional, national, or international levels. Inductees have also demonstrated a measurable and positive impact on the lives of citizens and NIFA's mission to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension to solve societal challenges. Nomination deadline for both awards is May 28. Learn more about the Partnership Awards Program here and the NIFA Hall of Fame here.
 

The USDA announced that it will host the first-ever Food Loss and Waste Innovation Fair on May 26 (12 - 4 p.m. ET), to showcase USDA investments and business leadership in reducing food loss and waste throughout the food system. The Innovation Fair will present businesses and research teams that have received USDA funding to research or commercialize cutting-edge food loss and waste solutions. Learn more and register here.
 

Join geographer and GIS educator Joseph Kerski as we examine why geotechnologies such as GIS, web mapping, remote sensing, GNSS-GPS, and related tools are important to society, to science, and to your own career path.  What are the forces and trends that are acting on GIS in the 2020s, and what skills will be important going forward? We will also explore how you can engage with tools, data, educational resources, and the community of geotechnology practitioners. We will allow for plenty of time to answer your questions about geotechnologies and your career path. May 11, 2pm MDT. Register here.
 

The United Nations has proclaimed 2021-2030 as the decade of ecological restoration. In terrestrial ecosystems, ecological restoration starts with restoring soils, soil biodiversity, and soil functioning. The purpose of this webinar is to explore recent advances in research on how soil biodiversity contributes to ecological restoration in a variety of ecosystems, from agricultural to (semi)natural. In the webinar, besides considering some recent advances in this topic, we will focus on new understanding and theories on the restoration of soils and how it is influenced by soil biodiversity. Join the panel of experts as they discuss their research, major gaps, and how soil biodiversity research contributes to ecological restoration. June 9, 7am MDT. Learn more and register here.
 

Timely, frequent, and complete cropland soil moisture and vegetative condition information, acquired throughout the growing season is critical for developing agricultural policy, forecasting crop production and crop yields, tracking droughts or floods and climate assessments. This webinar introduces the newly released Crop Condition and Soil Moisture Analytics (Crop-CASMA) – web GIS application developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the Agricultural Research Service, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and George Mason University. CropCASMA provides access to contiguous United States Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) soil moisture data and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) derived vegetative indices in an easy-to-use format to conduct visualization, dissemination, produce maps and to conduct analysis. June 24, at 11am EDT. Learn more and register here.
 

International Corner

Africa’s Great Green Wall, a climate crisis initiative that offers hope for some of the continent’s most beleaguered farmers, is back on a steady trajectory after securing $14 billion in new funding for the next decade. Once complete, Africa’s Great Green Wall will reportedly be the largest living structure on the planet, covering an area 8,000 km long by 17 km wide — three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef — and stretching across the entire continent. Read the full article.
 

To meet future global wheat production needs, improving grain yield is the primary goal of wheat‐breeding programs across the globe. Investigations of the contribution of morphophysiological traits to wheat yield potential and knowledge on the limiting factors for wheat yield improvements are essential to the continuous improvement of grain yield in wheat‐breeding strategies. In an article recently published in Crop Science, researchers evaluated the grain yield and associated traits of eight milestone wheat cultivars that were released between 1969 and 2012 in southwestern China. Their results showed that significant genetic improvement has been achieved in this region over the last 40 years. Read the full article.
 

The European Commission has released a study that could ease restrictions on gene editing and other new plant breeding technologies. The 117-page study on new genomic techniques (NGT) finds that these tools have the potential to support agricultural sustainability and are compatible with the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy. It also concluded that the EU’s current regulatory scheme for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) — adopted in 2001 — is not suitable for assessing these innovative tools and must be adapted to scientific and technological progress. Read the full article.
 

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

The Kansas Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for the 2021 Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. Funds for the program are awarded to the agency by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service. The funds are in turn granted to projects and organizations to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops by leveraging efforts to market and promote specialty crops; assisting producers with research and development relevant to specialty crops; expanding availability and access to specialty crops; and addressing local, regional and national challenges confronting specialty crop producers. Specialty crops are defined by the USDA as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture. Deadline, May 21. Read the full announcement. 
 

This Dear Colleague Letter announces a new supplemental funding opportunity for awardees of the Advanced Technical Education (ATE) Program and the Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) Program. This supplemental funding opportunity provides students, faculty, and student/faculty teams in two-year Institutions of Higher Education (2-yr IHEs) with experiential learning opportunities through research internships that involve IUCRC Centers and associated Center research projects. These internship opportunities will support 2-yr IHE students, faculty, and student/faculty teams in acquiring core professional competencies and skills to support careers in sectors of the U.S. economy served by IUCRCs and provide chances to directly interact with industry representatives. Deadline, June 15. Read the full announcement. 
 

The International Agricultural Education Fellowship Program will provide fellowships to eligible U.S. citizens to assist developing countries in establishing school-based agricultural education and youth extension programs. Candidates must hold a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in an agriculture-related field and must understand U.S. school-based agricultural education and youth extension programs. Deadline, June 17. Read the full announcement. 
 

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. 
Vermont – Deadline, June 29
 

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world — the Great Lakes. The U.S. Forest Service announces that up to $4.5 million in new funds are expected to be available for reforestation, ecosystem restoration and forest health improvement in the Great Lakes Basin. Deadline, July 8. Read the full announcement.
 

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was launched in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the largest system of fresh surface water in the world — the Great Lakes. The U.S. Forest Service announces that approximately $850,000 in new funds are expected to be available for the Spring 2021 GLRI Cooperative Weed Management Areas grant program. The goal of this program is to detect, prevent, eradicate, and/or control invasive plant species to promote resiliency, watershed stability, and biological diversity on Federal, State, or other public or private land. Deadline, July 8. Read the full announcement.
 

The National Science Foundation's Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) will support up to 10 awards annually to enable active research by cohorts of middle school teachers, high school teachers and/or community college faculty. Research Experiences for Teachers Sites (RET Sites; RETS) will be based at institutions of higher learning or other non-profit organizations in the U.S. that conduct educational and research activities. RETS with a focus on Biological Sciences (BIORETS) will include research projects in fields that are supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences. BIORETS may be based in a single discipline or department or may offer interdisciplinary or multi-department research opportunities with a coherent intellectual theme. An important goal of the program is to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in biological research and those from geographically underrepresented areas in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Proposals are strongly encouraged to involve members of these groups both as participants and as mentors. BIORETS awards are expected to leverage the teachers’ research experiences for curriculum development, with the goal of enriching their classroom teaching practices and inspiring a broad swath of students to consider higher education and careers in STEM. Deadline, August 2. Read the full announcement.
 

The Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) will consider proposals for the development of cyberinfrastructure (CI) for the Earth Sciences (Geoinformatics). EAR-supported geoinformatics opportunities will fit into three tracks: Catalytic Track, Facility Track, and Sustainability Track. These tracks broadly support the lifecycle of geoinformatics resource development, from pilots (Catalytic) to broad implementation (Facility) to sunsetting and long-term sustainability (Sustainability). 1) The GI Catalytic Track will support pilot geoinformatics development efforts that are intended to serve Earth Science research. 2) The GI Facility Track will support awards for implementation and operation of a cyberinfrastructure resource relied upon by one or more Earth Science communities to address science questions. 3) The GI Sustainability Track will support development and implementation of sustainable funding models to preserve data and software products of value to Earth Science research. Deadline, August 16. Read the full announcement.
 

Sources: AIP FYI; Associated Press; World Food Prize; Successful Farming; Iowa State News; Science and Technology Issues; CAST; Reuters; Civil Eats; AGI; Farm Progress; NIFA; Phytobiomes Alliance; Alliance for Science; NSF; USFS;

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.