From thodges@beta.tricity.wsu.eduMon Feb 27 17:40:06 1995 Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 21:54:27 GMT From: Hodges To: sustag-public@ces.ncsu.edu Subject: Re: USA Farm Bill (long) There are plans in the US Congress (sorry non-US netters) to cut agricultural research as part of the Contract with America. Programs may be eliminated or greatly reduced if the suggested $80 million in cuts are carried out. Whether this will be good for the US and the world will, of course, depend on the details. How much and where. It is my opinion, as an agronomist and scientist, that research programs leading to better understanding of the interactions among physical/biological/chemical components of agricultural systems are vital to getting to sustainable agriculture in the future, as we don't know enough about these interactions. Much past research was done within disciplines so that factors or processes were looked at in isolation from most other components of a crop system. Example research questions would be "how many grams/hectare of Monitor are needed to kill 99.9% of Colorado potato beetle in a potato field during a humid period in July in Idaho" or "how does grain yield of Pioneer 3370 hybrid corn change with increasing N application on a silt loam in Eastern Nebraska with irrigation". Rather we need more emphasis on "Systems Research" where we ask how a process of interest will respond to many aspects of the environment. Examples are 1) What are the factors controlling transformation of nitrogen in the soil between its various mineral (NH4+, NO3-) and organic forms, how does carbon:nitrogen ratio of soil organic material affect such transformations, how is that modulated by soil moisture/ temperature/microbe population. Then how can we manage crops, crop residues, tillage operations, and water and chemical applications so that soluable nitrogen (NO3-) is not present in high concentrations when water is moving down through the soil. 2) Study the life cycle of an insect, identify critical points and what management actions can be done at those points to control/reduce its effects. I.e. introduce predator insects, don't kill predators by spraying when they are vulnerable, maintain habitat for predators in or around crop fields, introduce diseases and parasites, etc. An excellent understanding of the life cycles of several insect species is needed to develop these control measures so that we know that they are effective and economical and can be tailored to a wide range of environmental situations. Currently these kinds of systems are developed by individual farmers by inefficient trial and error methods, with unlucky operators going bankrupt when their trials fail badly. Anyway if you want to express yourselves about agricultural research and sustainable agriculture, this is a critical time to telephone, write, or fax your House and Senate representatives. Does anyone know where to find such address/phone/email information on the Internet? Apologies for the length, especially to those outside the US, Tom Tom Hodges, Cropping Systems Modeler USDA-ARS email: thodges@beta.tricity.wsu.edu Rt. 2, Box 2953-A voice: 509-786-9207 Prosser, WA 99350 USA Fax: 509-786-9370 == ## Rent this space ## == If this represents anything, it is only my opinion.