National Food and Agricultural Science Act of 2005 - Establishes: (1) in the National Science Foundation (NSF) a Division of Food and Agricultural Science, which shall be administered by a Director of Food and Agricultural Science; and (2) a Standing Council of Advisors.
States that the Division's sole function shall be to award grants to promote complementary, fundamental agricultural research to: (1) individual scientists; (2) single and multi-institutional research centers; and (3) private and public sector entities, including the Department of Agriculture, the Foundation, or other Federal agencies.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1563 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1563
To establish a Division of Food and Agricultural Science within the
National Science Foundation and to authorize funding for the support of
fundamental agricultural research of the highest quality, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 12, 2005
Mr. Gutknecht (for himself, Mr. Schwarz of Michigan, and Mr. Kennedy of
Minnesota) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a Division of Food and Agricultural Science within the
National Science Foundation and to authorize funding for the support of
fundamental agricultural research of the highest quality, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``National Food and Agricultural
Science Act of 2005''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Council.--The term ``Council'' means the Standing
Council of Advisors established under section 4(c).
(2) Director.--Except as otherwise provided in this Act,
the term ``Director'' means the Director of Food and
Agricultural Science.
(3) Division.--The term ``Division'' means the Division of
Food and Agricultural Science established under section 4(a).
(4) Foundation.--The term ``Foundation'' means the National
Science Foundation.
(5) Fundamental agricultural research; fundamental
science.--The terms ``fundamental agricultural research'' and
``fundamental science'' mean fundamental research or science
that--
(A) advances the frontiers of knowledge so as to
lead to practical results or to further scientific
discovery; and
(B) has an effect on agriculture, food, nutrition,
human health, or another purpose of this Act, as
described in section 3(b).
(6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Agriculture.
(7) United states.--The term ``United States'' when used in
a geographical sense means the States, the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and all territories
and possessions of the United States.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--The Agricultural Research, Economics, and Education
Task Force established under section 7404 of the Farm Security and
Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 3101 note) conducted an
exhaustive review of agricultural research in the United States and
evaluated the merits of establishing 1 or more national institutes
focused on disciplines important to the progress of food and
agricultural science. Consistent with the findings and recommendations
of the Agricultural Research, Economics, and Education Task Force,
Congress finds the following:
(1) Agriculture in the United States faces critical
challenges, including an impending crisis in the food,
agricultural, and natural resource systems of the United
States. Exotic diseases and pests threaten crops and livestock,
obesity has reached epidemic proportions, agriculturally-
related environmental degradation is a serious problem for the
United States and other parts of the world, certain animal
diseases threaten human health, and United States producers of
some major crops are no longer the world's lowest cost
producers.
(2) In order to meet these critical challenges, it is
essential that the Nation ensure that the agricultural
innovation that has been so successful in the past continues in
the future. Agricultural innovation has resulted in hybrid and
higher yielding varieties of basic crops and enhanced the
world's food supply by increasing yields on existing acres.
Since 1960, the world's population has tripled with no net
increase in the amount of land under cultivation. Currently,
only 1.5 percent of the population of the United States
provides the food and fiber to supply the Nation's needs.
Agriculture and agriculture sciences play a major role in
maintaining the health and welfare of all people of the United
States and in husbanding our land and water, and that role must
be expanded.
(3) Fundamental scientific research that leads to
understandings of how cells and organisms work is critical to
continued innovation in agriculture in the United States. Such
future innovations are dependent on fundamental scientific
research, and will be enhanced by ideas and technologies from
other fields of science and research.
(4) Opportunities to advance fundamental knowledge of
benefit to agriculture in the United States have never been
greater. Many of these new opportunities are the result of
amazing progress in the life sciences over recent decades,
attributable in large part to the provision made by the Federal
Government through the National Institutes of Health and the
National Science Foundation. New technologies and new concepts
have speeded advances in the fields of genetics, cell and
molecular biology, and proteomics. Much of this scientific
knowledge is ready to be mined for agriculture and food
sciences, through a sustained, disciplined research effort at
an institute dedicated to this research.
(5) Publicly sponsored research is essential to continued
agricultural innovation to mitigate or harmonize the long-term
effects of agriculture on the environment, to enhance the long-
term sustainability of agriculture, and to improve the public
health and welfare.
(6) Competitive, peer-reviewed fundamental agricultural
research is best suited to promoting the fundamental research
from which breakthrough innovations that agriculture and
society require will come.
(7) It is in the national interest to dedicate additional
funds on a long-term, ongoing basis to an institute dedicated
to funding competitive peer-reviewed grant programs that
support and promote the highest caliber of fundamental
agricultural research.
(8) The Nation's capacity to be competitive internationally
in agriculture is threatened by inadequate investment in
research.
(9) To be successful over the long term, grant-receiving
institutions must be adequately reimbursed for their costs if
they are to pursue the necessary agricultural research.
(10) To meet these challenges, address these needs, and
provide for vitally needed agricultural innovation, it is in
the national interest to provide sufficient Federal funds over
the long term to fund a significant program of fundamental
agricultural research through an independent institute.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of the Division established under
section 4(a) shall be to ensure that the technological superiority of
agriculture in the United States effectively serve the people of the
United States in the coming decades, and to support and promote
fundamental agricultural research of the highest caliber in order to
achieve goals, including the following goals:
(1) Increase the international competitiveness of United
States agriculture.
(2) Develop knowledge leading to new foods and practices
that improve nutrition and health and reduce obesity.
(3) Create new and more useful food, fiber, health,
medicinal, energy, environmental, and industrial products from
plants and animals.
(4) Improve food safety and food security by protecting
plants and animals in the United States from insects, diseases,
and the threat of bioterrorism.
(5) Enhance agricultural sustainability and improve the
environment.
(6) Strengthen the economies of the Nation's rural
communities.
(7) Decrease United States dependence on foreign sources of
petroleum by developing biobased fuels and materials from
plants.
(8) Strengthen national security by improving the
agricultural productivity of subsistence farmers in developing
countries to combat hunger and the political instability that
it produces.
(9) Assist in modernizing and revitalizing the Nation's
agricultural research facilities at institutions of higher
education, independent nonprofit research institutions, and
consortia of such institutions, through capital investment.
(10) Achieve such other goals and meet such other needs as
determined appropriate by the Foundation, the Director, or the
Secretary.
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF DIVISION.
(a) Establishment.--There is established within the National
Science Foundation a Division of Food and Agricultural Science. The
Division shall be administered by a Director of Food and Agricultural
Science.
(b) Reporting and Consultation.--The Director shall coordinate the
research agenda of the Division after consultation with the Secretary.
(c) Standing Council of Advisors.--
(1) Establishment.--
(A) In general.--There is established a Standing
Council of Advisors composed of 12 highly qualified
scientists who are not employed by the Federal
Government and 12 stakeholders.
(B) Scientists.--
(i) Appointment.--The 12 scientist members
of the Council shall be appointed to 4-year
staggered terms by the Director of Food and
Agricultural Science, with the consent of the
Director of the National Science Foundation.
(ii) Qualifications.--The persons nominated
for appointment as scientist members of the
Council shall be--
(I) eminent in the fields of
agricultural research, nutrition,
science, or related appropriate fields;
and
(II) selected for appointment
solely on the basis of established
records of distinguished service and to
provide representation of the views of
agricultural research and scientific
leaders in all areas of the Nation.
(C) Stakeholders.--
(i) Appointment.--The 12 stakeholder
members of the Council shall be appointed to 4-
year staggered terms by the Secretary, with the
consent of the Director.
(ii) Qualifications.--The persons nominated
for appointment as stakeholder members of the
Council shall--
(I) include distinguished members
of the public of the United States,
including representatives of farm
organizations and industry, and persons
knowledgeable about the environment,
subsistence agriculture, energy, and
human health and disease; and
(II) be selected for appointment so
as to provide representation of the
views of stakeholder leaders in all
areas of the Nation.
(2) Duties.--The Council shall assist the Director in
establishing the Division's research priorities, and in
reviewing, judging, and maintaining the relevance of the
programs funded by the Division. The Council shall review all
proposals approved by the scientific committees of the Division
to ensure that the purposes of this Act and the needs of the
Nation are being met.
(3) Meetings.--
(A) In general.--The Council shall hold periodic
meetings in order to--
(i) provide an interface between scientists
and stakeholders; and
(ii) ensure that the Division is linking
national goals with realistic scientific
opportunities.
(B) Timing.--The meetings shall be held at the call
of the Director, or at the call of the Secretary, but
not less frequently than annually.
SEC. 5. FUNCTIONS OF DIVISION.
(a) Competitive Research.--
(1) In general.--The Director shall carry out the purposes
of this Act by awarding competitive peer-reviewed grants to
support and promote the very highest quality of fundamental
agricultural research.
(2) Grant recipients.--The Director shall make grants to
fund research proposals submitted by--
(A) individual scientists;
(B) single and multi-institutional research
centers; and
(C) entities from the private and public sectors,
including researchers in the Department of Agriculture,
the Foundation, or other Federal agencies.
(b) Complementary Research.--The research funded by the Division
shall--
(1) supplement and enhance, not supplant, the existing
research programs of, or funded by, the Department of
Agriculture, the Foundation, and the National Institutes of
Health; and
(2) seek to make existing research programs more relevant
to the United States food and agriculture system, consistent
with the purposes of this Act.
(c) Grant-Awarding Only.--The Division's sole duty shall be to
award grants. The Division may not conduct fundamental agricultural
research or fundamental science, or operate any laboratories or pilot
plants.
(d) Procedures.--The Director shall establish procedures for the
peer review, awarding, and administration of grants under this Act,
consistent with sound management and the findings and purposes
described in section 3.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Research.
Executive Comment Requested from USDA.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Rural Development and Research.
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