Preface

On December 9, 2000, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry will celebrate 175 years as a
standing (permanent) committee of the United States Senate. Since the Senate's founding in 1789, approximately 1,200
men and women have served in the body. Of that number, 307 men and women have served on the Agriculture Committee
from its inception in 1825 to the present. Of those members, 44 Senators, from William Findlay of Pennsylvania to
Richard Lugar of Indiana, have served as Chairmen of the Agriculture Committee. The Committee also has employed a
professional staff beginning in 1863 with Joseph McCollough. And while, from 1825 on, the members of the Committee
generally met on the Senate floor or in *ad hoc* areas, in 1869 they began meeting in a room set aside for them
across the hall from the Committee on Contingent Expenses and in later years met in S 122 on the first floor of the
Capitol. In 1918, 80 years ago, the Committee moved to its present location on the third floor of the Russell
Building, then known as the "New" Office Building.

The Committee throughout its nearly 175-year existence has served as an important part of the delicate balance in developing farm policy between farm and other private organizations, the Executive Branch, and the House of Representatives. The Committee has not only served with the House Agriculture Committee as the Congressional arm in developing farm policy, but also fulfilled the historic Senate function as the slower, more deliberative body, leavening proposals that might have turned agriculture too radically in a new direction. From 1789 to 1913, although House members were popularly elected, Senators were elected or appointed by their respective state legislatures. It was the House that acted first in creating an Agriculture Committee, and the House Committee continued through the 1857 to 1863 period when the Senate allowed its Agriculture Committee to expire.

In earlier years, major agricultural policy often originated in either the House or the Executive Branch. The Senate Committee tended to move slowly, acting as a deliberative forum where ideas could be realistically measured for their potential impacts, which were often difficult to ascertain. The Committee was present from the formulation of research and education under the Land Grant College Act, and the creation of the Department of Agriculture, all the way to coming to grips with the budget constraints of the 1996 Farm Bill.

Membership in the Committee generally has indicated the relative importance of agriculture to a particular state's economy. In 1825, the nation virtually hugged the eastern seaboard and the makeup of the Committee reflected that condition. As additional states entered the union during the 19th century, the makeup of the Committee changed. As of 1998, 47 states have been represented on the Committee. Only Arizona, Alaska and Hawaii have never had a member of the Senate serving on the Agriculture Committee.

Some five states have each been represented on the Committee for just under 100 years. They include North Dakota, Kansas, Mississippi, Vermont, and Iowa. In terms of chairing the Committee, Vermont leads the way with 28 years, Louisiana with 23 years, and there is a three way tie between Georgia, Nebraska and North Carolina with 10 years each.

In many ways agricultural policy has traveled full circle. Over 130 years ago Congressman Justin Morrill was advancing the idea that the Congress should enact research legislation that would lead to the creation of a system of land grant colleges that would offer research and teaching to those involved in agriculture, at the time the vast majority of the citizens living in the United States. Now, 135 years later, the Congress, led by the Senate Agriculture Committee, has completed passage of a new research bill that will allow those institutions across America to move into the 21st century with confidence.