provides separate administration of its funds. Thus, no single USDA office holds complete authority for the budget and program of the NPGS.

From 1901 to 1953, USDA germplasm exploration and collection were the responsibilities of the Bureau of Plant Industry. In 1953 the bureau, the other scientific bureaus, and the Office of Experiment Stations were combined into the Agricultural Research Service (Office of Technology Assessment, 1981). Germplasm work then became the responsibility of the New Crops Research Branch and, for some major commodities, of various field crop leaders or chiefs. In general, the ARS branch system, as this organization was informally called, centralized finance and decision making and placed line authority largely in the hands of branch chiefs as national leaders.

Several reorganizations since 1953 have altered the balance of financial and decision-making authority within ARS and have seriously affected germplasm activities. The 1972 ARS reorganization switched the agency from the branch system to decentralized management. This shift disrupted the national focus for genetic resources. Line authority was delegated to the western, north central, northeast, and southern regions, each under a regional deputy administrator, and to 22 areas with their own management offices. Over the ensuing years, the regional offices were eliminated and the areas were reduced to eight. The present ARS National Program Staff has little of the authority for budgeting, staff selection, or decision making exercised by the former branch chiefs. Their responsibilities are described as programmatic (i.e., program planning), which is to say, advisory.

ARS activities are managed through a decentralized system of area offices. This system, while responsive to local needs, can hamper a nationally focused program. National coordination of hard red winter wheat research in 1981, which required the concurrence of the deputy administrators for three regions and the cooperation of seven area directors and 11 experiment station directors, is illustrative of the difficulties that can confront a national program (Office of Technology Assessment, 1981). Since that time, regional offices have been eliminated and the number of areas reduced, but decentralized management and the need for multiple concurrences remain.

The NPGS emerged in 1974 as a reorganized national program for germplasm in the United States. The germplasm activities at the regional stations and the National Seed Storage Laboratory (NSSL) were placed

Front Matter (R1-R16)

Executive Summary (1-20)

1 Managing Crop Genetic Resources (21-42)

2 Elements of the National Plant Germplasm System (43-86)

3 Administration of the National System (87-106)

4 Prescription for Effectiveness (107-144)

References (145-148)

Glossary (149-153)

Abbreviations (154-155)

Authors (156-160)

Index (161-173)