1.
This Act may be cited as the
National Food and Agricultural
Science Act of 2005
.
2.
In this Act:
(1)
The term Council
means the Standing Council of Advisors established under section 4(c).
(2)
Except as otherwise provided
in this Act, the term Director means the Director of Food and
Agricultural Science.
(3)
The term
Division means the Division of Food and Agricultural Science
established under section 4(a).
(4)
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)
The term
Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture.
(7)
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.
3.
(a)
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)
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 bio-based 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 non-profit 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.
4.
Establishment of Division
(a)
There is established within
the National Science Foundation a Division of Food and Agricultural Science.
The Division shall consist of the Council and 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)
(A)
There is established in the
Division a Standing Council of Advisors composed of 12 highly qualified
scientists who are not employed by the Federal Government and 12
stakeholders.
(B)
(i)
The 12 scientist members of
the Council shall be appointed to 4-year staggered terms by the Director of the
National Science Foundation, with the consent of the Director of Food and
Agricultural Science.
(ii)
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)
(i)
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)
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)
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)
(A)
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)
The meetings shall be held at
the call of the Director, or at the call of the Secretary, but not less
frequently than annually.
5.
(a)
(1)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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.