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2017 Federal Budget Supports Agricultural Research

Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, recently commented on the issue of agricultural research funding and President Obama’s proposal in the Fiscal Year 2017 Federal Budget in the February 3 USDA Blog. He noted that in 2002 when he served as a panel manager of the National Research Initiative (NRI) competitive grants program, only 24 percent of the proposals submitted to the NRI program were funded. Today, the funding rate for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), which replaced the NRI program, has dipped to barely 10 percent.

According to Dr. Ramaswamy, during FY 2014, NIFA received 3,875 proposals for funding by the AFRI program, of which 1,640 were recommended for funding, and, unfortunately, NIFA could only fund 390 proposals with the resources available.

He notes that, “in this highly competitive environment, many talented scientists and researchers are unable to get funding and, as a result, are leaving agricultural sciences at a time when the need for their innovation is greatest or taking their expertise to other countries that are more supportive of public sector research. A growing population, climate change, diminishing land and water resources, and the need to ensure food security are becoming ever more urgent. Funding shortfalls become even more daunting when one considers the urgency of new and invasive species of pests, antimicrobial resistance, pollinator health, sustainability, poor public health and nutritional outcomes, and the need for innovations for advanced manufacturing and economic enterprises. Funding research to respond to these challenges should be considered as an investment in our Nation’s future, an investment that will pay big dividends in the years to come.”

USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, or NIFA, and its flagship competitive grants program, AFRI, were created as part of the 2008 Farm Bill. At that time, AFRI was authorized by Congress to be funded at $700 million per year. Unfortunately, Congressional appropriations for AFRI have only gone as high as $350 million for this 2016 fiscal year.

President Obama has requested full funding for AFRI at $700 million in the 2017 fiscal budget recently submitted to Congress. The AFRI budget proposal includes $375 million provided in the discretionary request, and a legislative action to make available $325 million in mandatory funding as part of a government-wide investment in research and development.

Please read the entire blog post here.