Science Policy Report

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09 June 2021

In This Issue:

Policy News

Science and Society News

International Corner

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

Policy News

President Joe Biden asked Congress to give big budget increases to most civilian science agencies. The $6 trillion request includes a 9% increase, or $13.5 billion, in total federal spending on R&D, bringing the total to $171 billion. Spending on basic research would rise by 10%, or $4.4 billion, to $47.4 billion, whereas applied research would get a 14% bump ($6.3 billion) to $51.1 billion. USDA research funding In-house research at USDA fares well in the request, with a 24%, $358 million. The budget proposal increases of 20% or more for research programs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and other agencies. Read statements on the President’s FY2022 Budget Request from NSF Director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, and Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm. Read the full article.

ASA, CSSA, and SSSA join 151 scientific and agricultural groups asking Congress and the Biden administration to support a $40 billion investment in agricultural climate research, agricultural innovation, and agricultural research infrastructure through the America Jobs Plan. The American Jobs Plan negotiations represent a once in a generation opportunity to give our farmers, ranchers, producers, and foresters the solutions needed to address climate change and ensure that U.S. research and development investments don’t fall further behind other countries, like China, Brazil, and India. Read the letter here.

The Senate passed sweeping legislation aimed at combating China's competitiveness on Tuesday, after several last-minute snags in a weeks-long debate that appeared ready to derail it multiple times. The bipartisan “U.S. Innovation and Competition Act,” which includes the “Endless Frontier Act” and a $52 billion investment for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and R&D, was a top priority of Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The bill provides $120 billion for activities at the National Science Foundation, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It would also create a new directorate of technology and innovation at the National Science Foundation. The measure now goes to the House, where it faces uncertain prospects, as lawmakers there have offered their own measures. Read the full article.

The House Science Committee introduced the “DOE Science for the Future Act,” a bipartisan policy update for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science that recommends Congress increase its annual budget from its current $7 billion level to nearly $11 billion by fiscal year 2026. The bill also sets funding targets for the office’s six program offices and major facility construction projects, and it establishes several new programs, including a high-intensity laser research initiative and a helium conservation program. The bill has been in the works for more than a year and incorporates recommendations from various stakeholders. It is also intended to complement the NSF for the Future Act, the bipartisan policy bill for the National Science Foundation that the committee introduced in March. Read the full article.

Last night, the U.S. Senate voted 83-14 to pass an amendment advancing the Partnerships for Energy Security and Innovation Act. The amendment added the legislation to the bipartisan competitiveness package – the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act – currently being debated in the Senate. If passed and signed into law, the legislation would establish a nonprofit foundation for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that would channel private-sector investments to support DOE’s mission and to accelerate the commercialization of innovative technologies in energy, like next-generation batteries, low-carbon fuels, and advanced materials. Similar to foundations for NIH, CDC, and USDA, new foundation for Department of Energy would raise billions of private-sector dollars to support cutting-edge research and innovation. Read the full article.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced an initiative to quantify the climate benefits of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts. This multi-year effort will enable USDA to better target CRP toward climate outcomes and improve existing models and conservation planning tools while supporting USDA’s goal of putting American agriculture and forestry at the center of climate-smart solutions to address climate change. The agency will now invest $10 million through this program to measure and monitor the soil carbon sequestration and other climate and environmental benefits of conservation practices over the life of CRP contracts. Read the full article.

Sometimes a new presidential administration signals where it’s headed through whom it selects to lead a federal research agency. That appears to be the case with President Joe Biden’s choice to lead the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) basic research wing, the Office of Science. Last month Biden tapped Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, a soil scientist at the University of California (UC), Merced, to lead the office, which has a $7 billion annual budget and is best known for funding physics, running national laboratories, and building atom smashers and other scientific megamachines. The nomination of Berhe, 46, suggests the office will increasingly emphasize research related to climate change. Read the full article.

Science and Society News

Abstract deadline approaching! Abstract submission fees to the 2021 ASA, CSSA, SSSA Annual Meeting increase June 23. Everyone is invited to submit and most are accepted. Don't have details yet? No problem; submit now and update later! Full abstract fee & registration refunds are available so there’s no risk.  Submit today! Learn more and submit here.

Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a plant native to Paraguay that produces calorie-free, sweet-tasting compounds called steviol glycosides. Issues with bitter flavor and cold intolerance have kept U.S. producers from growing the perennial, but researchers have been working hard to discover breeding and agronomic means to overcome both problems. Here, researchers discuss studies on stevia’s flavor and agronomic qualities, findings about consumer preferences, and the challenges for producing this new, potentially lucrative crop in the United States. Read the full article.

Farmers and ranchers are up against unparalleled obstacles that threaten their livelihoods and the global food supply.  Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. The last seven years have been the Earth’s hottest years on record. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States experienced 22 extreme weather events and disasters in 2020, resulting in more than $95 billion in damages. We can’t ignore the elephant in the room. Agriculture is part of the problem, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the GHGs. Yet, there is hope. The very plants and animals that are the source of our food can play a role in reducing GHG emissions. Read the full article.

The world’s soils, which provide 95% of humanity’s food, are “under great pressure”, according to a UN report on soil pollution. Soils are also the largest active store of carbon, after the oceans, and therefore crucial in fighting the climate crisis. But the report said industrial pollution, mining, farming and poor waste management are poisoning soils, with the “polluter pays” principle absent in many countries. Pollutants include metals, cyanides, DDT and other pesticides, and long-lasting organic chemicals such as PCBs, the report said, making food and water unsafe, cutting the productivity of fields and harming wildlife. However, it said most releases of pollutants that end up in soils are not easily quantified and therefore the true damage remains highly uncertain. Read the full article.

It’s calving season and all across the West ranchers are watching the sizes of their herds grow. It’s also the beginning of a new season on most ranches, but in the midst of a historic, persistent drought, a growing herd brings difficult questions. As average temperatures climb and the water that flows through many of the major rivers and creeks across the west is slowing, the availability of forage—grass, legumes, and other edible pasture plants—has become less predictable. Ranchers are facing tough calculations especially as climate change accelerates and the western United States enters its 22nd year of drought, long enough to be categorized as a mega-drought. Read the full article.

Farmland offers a benefit beyond food: carbon sequestration. Emerging regenerative agriculture practices have been experimenting with new ways to draw carbon from the air, store it in soil, and help farmers sell this benefit as carbon credits. But until last year, it was impossible to verify how much carbon is being sequestered without collecting soil samples and sending them to a lab, which is expensive, difficult to scale, and doesn’t show how carbon levels vary across a field. Three-year-old Cloud Agronomics, based in Boulder, Colorado, can assess an entire field using hyperspectral imaging, invented by NASA. Specially equipped aircraft fly over a field twice a year—before planting and after harvest—to measure soil organic carbon. Read the full article.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to land use changes such as converting forests to agricultural land have been decreasing over the past 20 years, a decline that has been counterbalanced by increased emissions - notably high in industrialized countries - from off-farm activities before and after food production according to a new study led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and published today in Environmental Resource Letters. The report, "Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Food System: Building the Evidence Base", estimates that food-system emissions amounted to 16 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide or equivalents (CO2) in 2018, an 8 percent increase since 1990. They now represent 33 percent of all human-caused GHG emissions. Read the full article.

Just a few bacterial taxa found in ecosystems across the planet are responsible for more than half of carbon cycling in soils. These new findings, made by researchers at Northern Arizona University and published in Nature Communications this week, suggest that despite the diversity of microbial taxa found in wild soils gathered from four different ecosystems, only three to six groups of bacteria common among these ecosystems were responsible for most of the carbon use that occurred. Read the full article.

Late-summer nitrogen application on tall fescue pastures is known to increase forage production for stockpiling and grazing throughout the winter months. However, surface application of urea-based fertilizer is particularly prone to ammonia volatilization losses during the summer in the southeastern United States. Enhanced-efficiency nitrogen fertilizer sources have the potential to reduce losses and prolong growth throughout the fall for forage production. New Agronomy Journal research reports on a multi-year study in central Kentucky evaluating enhanced-efficiency nitrogen source and nitrogen rate on stockpiled tall fescue production and nutritive value throughout the winter grazing period. Read the full article.

Climate Conversations: Pathways to Action is a new monthly webinar series from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that aims to convene high-level, cross-cutting, nonpartisan conversations about issues relevant to national policy action on climate change. Join us on Thursday, June 17, 2021 from 3-4 pm ET for a conversation on the role of infrastructure and engineering in building a climate resilient future. Hear a panel of experts discuss the different kinds of infrastructure and systems susceptible to climate impacts, the wide range of engineering solutions that can play a role in building a resilient and net-zero future, and the ways to help prepare the next generation of engineers for such a monumental task. Learn more and register here.

Join the USDA Climate Hubs on Tuesday, June, 15 at 3pm EDT for a webinar on Critical Questions in Soil Carbon Sequestration. This seven-part webinar series brings together scientists and others tackling critical questions that inform how to go about sequestering soil carbon in working lands. This series is intended for researchers, natural resource professionals, and producers who want to be informed on the science of improving soil management for climate mitigation and adaptation. In part 1, “Stakeholder perspectives”, Renata Brillinger (California Climate & Agriculture Network) and Lauren Lurkins (Illinois Farm Bureau) will share their organizations’ views and efforts to support agriculture in climate policy. Learn more and register here.

International Corner

The world’s agricultural production is threatened by climate change. To keep up with global demand of food and feed, cereal production needs to expand into the rapidly warming regions of the Arctic and Subarctic. A challenge in the northern frontier of cereal cultivation is to reach maturity in the short and relatively cold growing season. A few Icelandic barley breeding lines have previously proved to be extremely early in field trials, but little has been known about the genetic factors underlying this extreme earliness. In an article recently published in Crop Science, researchers from Iceland, Norway, and Sweden confirm the extreme earliness of Icelandic barley in controlled environment climate chambers. Furthermore, they dissect the genetic components behind the traits most important for northern adaptation. Read the full article.

The Cátedras Conacyt (Conacyt Professorships) program, launched 7 years ago to alleviate the brain drain of young Mexican researchers. The goal was to hire at least 3000 researchers by 2018. Researchers were matched with institutions that provided work space and infrastructure to do research while Conacyt employed them and paid their salaries for 10 years. The positions were coveted as one of the few opportunities for a science career in Mexico. However, in recent years, a combination of budget cuts, politics, and a widening rift between the government and scientists is at work, Mexican researchers say. Read the full article.

A South African scientist says it’s about time African governments prioritized the interests of farmers and allow them to use genetically modified (GM) crops for the benefit of the continent. “Let the farmers decide,” said Jennifer Thomson, emeritus professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Cape Town. “It shouldn’t be up to the politicians to say yes or no. Give it to the farmers.” Currently, only farmers in South Sudan, Kenya, Nigeria, Eswatini and South Africa are growing GM crops out of the 54 countries on the continent. Thomson blames anti–GMO activists for the slow pick up, even though those growing the crops have realized higher yields and reduced pesticide use and input costs. Read the full article.

Research, Education, Extension Funding Opportunities

The Cochran Fellowship Program, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service’s Office of Capacity Building and Development-Trade and Scientific Exchanges Division, provides short-term (2-3 week) training opportunities for cohorts of agricultural professionals from middle-income countries, emerging markets, and emerging democracies. Training opportunities are for senior and mid-level specialists and administrators working in agricultural trade and policy; agribusiness development; management; animal, plant, and food sciences; extension services; agricultural marketing; and many other areas. Training programs are designed and organized in conjunction with U.S. universities, USDA and other government agencies, agribusinesses, and consultants. Deadline, July 2. Read the full announcement.

The Farm Service Agency works with partners to identify Monitoring, Assessment and Evaluation (MAE) projects to quantify CRP environmental benefits to water quality and quantity, wildlife, rural economies, and our climate. USDA is currently seeking proposals for projects to survey, sample, and measure the climate benefits of land enrolled in the following CRP practice types over time: 1) Predominately Perennial grass with legumes and shrubs, depending on the practice; 2) Tree ; and 3) Wetland, including both mineral and organic soils and both floodplain and non-floodplain wetlands. A project can cover one or more of the above practice types and should be for a three- to five-year term, with the potential for renewal. Deadline, July 2. Read the full announcement. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) requests applications for the Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP) Competitive Grants Program for fiscal year (FY) 2021. There are two types of UAIP Grants types. (1) Planning Projects (PP) and (2) Implementation Projects (IP). The primary goal of UAIP is to assist eligible entities with projects that support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production. Deadline, July 30. Read the full announcement.

The NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program focuses on transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial potential and/or societal benefit. Unlike fundamental or basic research activities that focus on scientific and engineering discovery itself, the NSF SBIR program supports the creation of opportunities to move fundamental science and engineering out of the lab and into the market or other use at scale, or startups and small businesses representing "deep technology ventures." The NSF SBIR Program funds research and development. The program is designed to provide non-dilutive funding and entrepreneurial support at the earliest stages of company and technology development. Deadline, September 2. Read the full announcement. 

The NSF Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program is intended to support scientific excellence and technological innovation that is moving from the lab to the market. By investing federal research and development funds into startups and small businesses, NSF hopes to build a strong national economy and stimulate the creation of novel products, services, and solutions in the private sector; strengthen the role of small business in meeting federal research and development needs; increase the commercial application of federally supported research results; and develop and increase the US workforce, especially by fostering and encouraging participation by socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned small businesses. The STTR program at NSF solicits proposals based on groundbreaking scientific discoveries or significant engineering breakthroughs from the small businesses 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. Deadline, September 2. Read the full announcement.

Sources: ScienceInsider; USDA; NSF; DOE-SC; The Hill; AIP FYI; The Guardian; Civil Eats; Fast Company; FOA; Eureka Alert; National Academies; Alliance for 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.