NCGA Pushes Congress to Fund Research
The National Corn Growers Association urges Congress to fund agricultural research in the next farm bill.
Compiled by staff
Published: Mar 23, 2007
Congress needs to reinvest in agricultural research, the National Corn Growers Association says. As Congress reviews the Research Title of the 2002 Farm Bill, NCGA says it should remember that a thriving rural economy and profitable corn industry depend on agricultural research.
NCGA supports strengthening the Research Title of the farm bill through the creation of a new program of competitive, merit-based grants for fundamental agricultural research. The program would be supported by mandatory funding within the United States Department of Agriculture.
"Ideally, we believe this new program would complement existing programs by improving agricultural science outcomes that could lead to advances such as healthier foods," says NCGA President Ken McCauley. "NCGA recognizes that this kind of change requires increased resources, and as such, supports increased funding for food and agricultural research."
NCGA also desires better coordination within the Interagency Working Group focused on plant genetics to avoid redundancy and refine boundaries. USDA will best serve the research community in this area by warehousing data and focusing on the functionality of plant genomes, McCauley says.
Permalink: Click here
Tagged: NCGA, farm, farm bill, usda, National Corn Growers Association
|