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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
This study was supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under Agreement No. 93-COOP-2-8575 and by the W. K. Kellogg Endowment Fund of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. The Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture also provided support. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authoring committee and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsors.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Colleges of agriculture at the land grant universities : public service and public policy / Committee on the Future of Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture, Board on Agriculture, National Research Council.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-309-05433-8 (alk. paper)
1. Agricultural colleges—United States. 2. Agricultural education—United States. 3. State universities and colleges—United States. I. National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the Future of Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture.
S533.C695 1996
630'.71'173—dc20 96-26964
CIP
© 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Committee On The Future Of The Colleges Of Agriculture In The Land Grant University System
ANTHONY S. EARL, Chair,
Quarles and Brady Law Firm, Madison, Wisconsin
R. LEE BALDWIN,
University of California, Davis
JOHN C. GORDON,
Yale University
GORDON E. GUYER,
State of Michigan Department of Agriculture
FRED HARRISON, JR.,
Fort Valley State College
EDWARD A. HILER,
Texas A&M University
MARLYN JORGENSEN,
Jorg-Anna Farms, Garrison, Iowa
DARYL B. LUND,
Cornell University
THOMAS F. MALONE,
The Sigma Xi Center, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
MORTIMER H. NEUFVILLE,
University of Maryland, Eastern Shore
ELIZABETH D. OWENS,
ISK Biosciences Corporation, Mentor, Ohio
C. ALAN PETTIBONE,
Washington State University
ALLEN ROSENFELD,
Public Voice for Food and Health Policy, Washington, D.C.
CHARLES SAUL,
Agway, Inc., Syracuse, New York
G. EDWARD SCHUH,
University of Minnesota
GEORGE E. SEIDEL, JR.,
Colorado State University
JO ANN DOKE SMITH,
Smith Associates, Irving, Texas
KATHERINE R. SMITH,
Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture
JAMES WYNGAARDEN,
Duke University
ELISABETH A. ZINSER,
University of Kentucky
JAMES J. ZUICHES,
Washington State University
Staff
NICOLE BALLENGER, Project Director
DIBY KOUADIO, Research Associate*
JANET OVERTON, Editor
VIOLA HOREK, Project Assistant
Board On Agriculture
DALE E. BAUMAN, Chair,
Cornell University
JOHN M. ANTLE,
Montana State University
MAY R. BERENBAUM,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
LEONARD S. BULL,
North Carolina State University
WILLIAM B. DELAUDER,
Delaware State University
RICHARD R. HARWOOD,
Michigan State University
T. KENT KIRK,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Madison, Wisconsin
GEORGE E. SEIDEL, JR.,
Colorado State University
CHRISTOPHER R. SOMERVILLE,
Carnegie Institution of Washington
JOHN R. WELSER,
The Upjohn Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Staff
J. PAUL GILMAN, Executive Director
SUSAN OFFUTT, Executive Director*
CARLA CARLSON, Assistant Executive Director†
Preface
The National Research Council's Committee on the Future of the Colleges of Agriculture in the Land Grant University System was convened in November 1993. The committee was charged with assessing the adaptation of the land grant colleges of agriculture to the public's changing needs and priorities and with recommending public policy and institutional change that could enhance the colleges' role in serving the national interest. The committee was composed of participants in the land grant system—administrators and faculty with teaching, research, and extension expertise—and representatives of public interest groups, state government, agribusiness, and the nonagricultural science community. Members of the committee come from all parts of the country and are diverse in terms of gender, age, experience, and ethnicity; thus the committee's deliberations reflect a variety of viewpoints.
This publication is the second of two volumes by the committee. The first publication, Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities: A Profile, released in September 1995, was designed to lay an empirical base for the committee's deliberations and to contribute to public understanding and discussion of the college of agriculture system. The Profile report described the national network of colleges of agriculture and its operating environment—the U.S. food and agricultural system—yesterday and today. It compiled public data and information about the colleges' three main responsibilities—teaching students, conducting research, and extending knowledge and research findings to off-campus customers—and about federal policy for agricultural science and education. This second and final publication presents the committee's conclusions and recommendations for how the land grant college of agriculture system as a whole can be strengthened and best prepared for the future.
In the course of its deliberations, the committee acknowledged the diversity within the land grant college system and that it would not be possible to collect all the data or conduct the analyses that would lead to a credible evaluation of the content and quality of the many diverse programs and curricula. Thus, an assessment of strengths and weakness of individual college's teaching, research, and extension programs was not within the scope of the committee's work. The committee took instead a broad view. It focused its assessments on
- the changing economic and social context for the colleges' programs;
- the contemporary national interest in the land grant system in general, and in food and agricultural system science and education in particular;
- the federal role in supporting food and agricultural system science and education;
- recommendations for federal policy in keeping with the contemporary federal role; and
- identifying institutional innovations on the land grant campus that the committee believes will well serve the colleges—and the nation—today and into the future.
The committee approached the study in three phases. During the first phase, the committee collected, reviewed, and assessed public data and information about the colleges of agriculture and their operating environment and solicited the expert opinions of observers of and participants in the land grant system. The committee reviewed the historical background and early context of the land grant system, tracked its legislative history, and discussed the changes in U.S. society and the economy since the colleges' early years. On the basis of their review, the committee evaluated public data related to academic programs, research, and extension—for example, trends in student enrollments, demographics, and fields of study, federal funds for agricultural research, the changing mechanisms by which research funds are allocated, and how sources of funding differ across institutions. The evolving emphases of agricultural research and extension programs were also evaluated.
During the second phase, in the spring of 1995, committee members held public forums in five states—Connecticut, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Dakota. A forum had been scheduled in California also; however, because of the simultaneous scheduling of activities involving the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, the committee received, instead, written public comment from the state's citizens. The goal of the forums was to broaden each committee member's personal experience with and exposure to a variety of land grant college campuses through up-close examination of the interface between college activities and public needs in five differing state and university environments. The information generated by the forums was inherently anecdotal, but it enriched and complemented the empirical portrait constructed more systematically through the use of quantitative indicators such as those published in the Profile report. Additionally, many of the examples of college programs and activities presented in this final report were identified during these state visits or through contact with the land grant colleges in those states.
The committee greatly appreciated the participation in the forums of more than 500 people and the written input from more than 50 Californians. In each state the forums drew significant attendance—college faculty and administrators, extension staff, farmers and ranchers, and representatives of commodity groups and agricultural industry. Although their numbers were fewer, attenders also included representatives of rural life and development programs, low-income and ethnic minority groups, food distribution networks, health care agencies, and youth and education programs. A number of representatives of state legislatures and a range of state agencies also attended or took time to meet with committee members.
Although the forums were an important and valued learning experience for all committee members, the committee recognized that the small number of forums in relation to the number of colleges of agriculture, coupled with the impossibility of guaranteeing attendance (because of timing, distance, and resources) by the full spectrum of stakeholder groups, would preclude basing its recommendations directly or solely on comments and discussion at the forums. The committee believes, however, that it is on solid ground in its conclusion that the participating colleges are acknowledging and attempting to confront challenges posed by changing times and state economies and it commends them for that effort.
The challenges differ in their particulars from state to state. In Connecticut the
college of agriculture assists farmers in meeting the environmental demands of a highly urbanized state and provides analytical and educational support for nutrition information programs in urban and low-income communities. In New Mexico, where there is a large base of support composed of farm and ranch clientele, the college of agriculture has established an environmental sciences program and a popular hospitality and tourism services program that reflects the growing role of tourism in the state economy.
The third phase of the study began in July 1995; from then through January 1996, the committee synthesized and integrated information from the first two phases and engaged in the deliberative process that resulted in this report.
The structure of this report, for simplicity, parallels the colleges' three functions—teaching, research, and extension. The committee felt strongly, however, that the land grant system's hallmark has been its historical commitment to an integrated three-part mission and that it is the relationship of the three functions to one another that unites science and education in service to the public. One of the main themes of Chapter 2, which presents a set of overarching themes, is the need to reinvigorate the tripartite mission; specific public policy measures are therefore proposed to strengthen the integration of teaching, research, and extension activities. Other crosscutting themes found in Chapter 2 are
- the need to develop and expand research programs and academic curricula that reflect an expanded view of the contemporary food and agricultural system;
- the possibilities for a new geography for the national college system that can enhance efficiency and enlarge the scope and relevance of programs; and
- a discussion of guiding principles for the use of public, especially federal, resources to fund food and agricultural system science and education.
Chapter 3 turns to the colleges' earliest responsibility: to teach. It affirms the strong national interest in educating students in food and agricultural sciences but also discusses the dynamism of the educational needs of the food and agricultural system and the challenges posed for the colleges. The chapter explores some innovative academic program areas in which the committee believes the colleges of agriculture show or have the potential to show considerable distinction. A key theme of the chapter is the valuable role that land grant colleges still play in assuring access to higher education, particularly for students in rural areas, but the focus is on the continuing challenges the colleges face in attracting and retaining students of diverse backgrounds and in enhancing the image of agricultural fields of study.
The focus of Chapter 4 is the research function. The case is made for why the food and agricultural system needs continuing advances in fundamental research, in research that integrates the findings of multiple disciplines, in research that applies the finding of "integrative" research to important issues and problems, and in research dissemination. The case is built for federal support of food and agricultural system research across the research continuum and particularly at the integrative stage. The chapter explores the merits of alternative mechanisms for funding food and agricultural system research, an issue of considerable importance in an era of constraints on public research funds and dynamism in the system's science base.
Chapter 5 turns to the third leg of the tripartite mission. Extension has in ways been the most dynamic of the land grant activities, as it has diversified it programs in response to the changing needs of local communities and followed its local funding base into urban and suburban settings. Extension may also face the greatest challenges, as it updates its delivery technologies, rethinks its delivery points, evaluates its role in serving both farm and nonfarm clients vis-à-vis private advisors and consultants, and builds the knowledge base for its programs. The chapter addresses the continuing national interest in a public extension service as well as the possibilities for public extension to take greater advantage of market opportunities and private financing.
In stepping back from the many specific and technical issues examined, the
committee's overriding sentiment is that the land grant system's greatest strength is its commitment to access to knowledge by all. The value to society of the realization of this commitment simply cannot be emphasized enough. Committee member Tom Malone captured the committee's sentiment well with these thoughts:
Land grant colleges of agriculture can contribute effectively to the pursuit of a new vision for society. That vision is a society in which basic human needs and an equitable share of life's aspirations and wants can be met by successive generations while maintaining in perpetuity a healthy, physically attractive, and biologically productive environment. The successful pursuit of this vision requires vigorous development of the continuum of knowledge that embraces the discovery, integration, dissemination, and application of an understanding of the nature and the interaction of matter, living organisms, energy, information, and human behavior. The tradition of teaching, research, and extension at land grant colleges of agriculture is a superb institutional base upon which to erect this structure of knowledge.
The committee also concluded, as the 20 recommendations in this report attest, that there are areas where change is necessary to enhance the colleges' future prospects. The colleges must reach out to new clientele and implement priorities that reflect the complex needs of the 21st century's food and agricultural system. They must reexamine their partnerships with each other, the federal government, traditional and nontraditional clientele, and other units of the university. They must simultaneously respond to the opportunities posed by the dynamism in science and adapt to challenges posed by today's federal funding environment.
Anthony S. Earl, Chair
Committee on the Future of the Colleges of Agriculture in the Land Grant University System
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the great many people who assisted in the development of this report by participating in the regional forums during the spring of 1995. The input we received from the spectrum of participants in the land grant college system was an important factor in shaping the views and recommendations of this committee. We also gratefully acknowledge those who took time from their busy schedules to attend various committee meetings. We offer thanks to the following individuals who served as invited speakers* at various committee meetings to share the wealth of their expertise and experience:
Julian Alston, University of California
Edward Barlow, Creating the Future
Sister Thomas Moore Bertels, Silver Lake College, Wisconsin
John Bottum, USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
Rep. George Brown, Jr. (D/California)
David Call, Cornell University
Emery Castle, Oregon State University
Mary Clutter, National Science Foundation
Kenneth Deavers, USDA Economic Research Service
William DeLauder, Delaware State University
Ken Farrell, University of California
Richard Foster, W. K. Kellogg Foundation
David Goodstein, California Institute of Technology
Ted Hullar, University of California, Davis
Patrick Jordan, USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
Joe Kunsman, National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges
Peter Magrath, National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges
Larry McCray, National Academy of Sciences, Policy Division
Per Pinstrup-Andersen, International Food Policy Research Institute
Carl Pray, Rutgers—The State University of New Jersey
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Contents
Tables And Figures
Tables
2-1 |
Planning or Advisory Body Priorities for Food and Agricultural System Research and Education, 1994 |
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3-1 |
Tuition and Fees at 1862 Institutions, 1992–1994 |
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3-2 |
Tuition and Fees at 1890 Institutions, 1992–1994 |
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3-3 |
Graduate Record Examination: Average of Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Scores, 1991–1994 |
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4-1 |
Federal Agency Research and Development Support, 1994 |
Figures
Box Titles
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Recommendations for the Future of the Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture |
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LGCAs: Named for the Year of Their Mandate |
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Technological Change and the Development of U.S. Agriculture |
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Industrialization of U.S. Agriculture |
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USDA's Current Research Information System for Food and Agricultural Research |
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Distance Education |
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A Short Course by Satellite |
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Intramural Structural Issues |
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The Role of Students in Research |
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A Formal Mechanism for Integrating Teaching, Research, and Extension |
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The Land Grant Colleges' Early Years |
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The Demand for College Graduates in Food and Agriculture-Related Fields |
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USDA-Administered Higher Education Grants |
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GIS Training at Lincoln University |
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South Dakota State University's ''2+2+2" Program with Reservation High Schools and Tribal Colleges |
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Curriculum Revitalization Projects |
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"Transdisciplinary" Teaching at the University of Maryland |
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Teaching Science through Agriculture |
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The Cascade of Knowledge |
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A Profile of Two State Agricultural Experiment Station Researchers |
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Competitive Grants |
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Checkoff Funds |
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How Is University Extension Different from Cooperative Extension? |
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The Original Role for Federal Government |
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Origins of Cooperative Extension |
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Independent Crop Consultants |
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Multidisciplinary Foundation of Food and Nutritional Sciences |