What Do Drought, Ice Cream and Bird Flu Have in Common?
By Jacqueline Bond, July 15, 2015
The U.S. agriculture sector faces many problems these days.
Take the ongoing California drought that threatens more than one-third of our country’s vegetables and two-thirds of our fruits.
Or have you eaten Blue Bell ice cream recently? Blue Bell recalled ALL of its ice cream products because of Listeria contamination, causing three deaths and 10 hospitalizations.
Or check out the avian flu, which killed more than 48 million chickens and cost the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) more than $500 million since mid-December.
To address these problems that American farmers and consumers face every day, we need a new age of agriculture innovation and science. Federal funding for agricultural research, however, has stagnated for decades. Between 2000 and 2008, China doubled its investment in agricultural research and development, while the U.S. only increased its funding by two percent each year.
The Supporters of Agricultural Research Foundation (SoAR), a non-partisan coalition of scientific, consumer and producer groups, is garnering support for more agricultural research funding through the USDA’s Agricultural Food and Research Initiative (AFRI). AFRI was created under the 2008 farm bill to fund research grants that are rigorously peer-reviewed and competitively awarded to scientists from any institution.
As Congress continues to work on the federal budget, SoAR will continue to make the case to improve the productivity of our food and agriculture industry, tackle challenges like diseases and climate change and nourish our families.
To learn more about SoAR and its efforts, check out these articles:
New Strains of Avian Flu Highlights Need for New Science – The Hill
The Quest for Better Broccoli Starts with More Science – Scientific American
Agricultural Research’s Big Play on the Hill – Politico Pro
New Agricultural Science Group Hopes to Make U.S. Funding Soar – Science
