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Through its Farm Bill Committee,
NASULGC’s Board on Agriculture Assembly (BAA) has been working towards
reauthorization of the Farm Bill, which may occur in this
congressional session. Seven Farm Bill subcommittees – Nutrition,
Conservation, Rural Development, Forestry, Energy, Research and
Education, and International – have all developed proposals for
significant Farm Bill amendments. A considerable effort has also been
directed through the BAA’s CREATE-21 Committee to reframe the
partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the
university community. The original CREATE-21
proposal called for the consolidation of elements currently within
USDA’s Research, Education, and Economics program area (and Forest
Service R&D) within a new "National Institutes for Food and
Agriculture" in order to enhance the integration, efficiency, and
flexibility of programmatic efforts in research, extension, and
education. While sustaining existing intramural and university
capacity funding, the Institute would also
provide substantial new funding for competitively-awarded research,
extension, and education grants. Finally, the CREATE-21 proposal
included major elements of the Danforth proposal for the creation of a
National Institute of Food and Agriculture to substantially increase
fundamental research within USDA.
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