Agricultural Biotechnology Strategies for National Competitiveness (1987) / Chapter Skim
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1. Executive Summary and Recommendations
1. Executive Summary and Recommendations
Pages 1-15
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Thus far, government at both the state and federal levels has responded with short-term, Shoe management approaches; it has not addressed the long-term needs and policy concerns of integrating biotechnology into agricultural research and technology. Short-term management approaches jeopardize the fragile U.S.
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Such technologies become increasingly important as support prices are removed and world competition stiffens. A focus on increasing profit by reducing costs requires augmenting our knowledge in the agricultural sciences, especially those fundamental disciplines that underlie biotechnology development.
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THE POWER OF BIOTECHNOLOGY The power of biotechnology is no longer fantasy. Biotechnology the use of technologies based on living systems to develop commercial processes and products now includes the techniques of recombinant DNA, gene transfer, embryo manipulation and transfer, plant regeneration, cell culture, monoclonal antibodies, and bioprocess engineering.
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4. Cellular techniques developing and refining techniques for cell culture, cell fusion, regeneration of plants, and other manipulations of plant and animal cells and embryos.
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Peer review must be a key component of any step taken to strengthen and improve the agricultural research system. Peer review, which in its broadest form is also called merit review, is one of the most effective mechanisms available to ensure that federal dollars are invested in high-quality research and that judgments made in allocating research funds are equitable and discerning.
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New Talent Implementing advances in biotechnology in agriculture will require a work force of highly skilled scientists who can apply molecular biological techniques to agricultural problems. Because biotechnology research spans a continuum from basic science through practical application, its practitioners must be conversant with the general biology of an organism, with the biochemical and genetic details of its life cycle, and with the needs of modern agriculture.
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Of particular importance in technology transfer from federal laboratories will be implementation of the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986. RECOM1~:NDATIONS Biotechnology offers both challenge and tremendous opportunity.
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Methods for gene transfer in many plants, animals, and microbes; plant cell culture and regeneration; and animal embryo culture and manipulation are inadequate to support the goal of improving agricultural productivity. Increased efforts are needed to apply techniques developed for laboratory organisms to those plants, animals (including insects)
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Equally important, different disciplines within biology and agriculture can collaborate to integrate knowledge and skills toward new advances in agriculture. New approaches to agricultural research are needed to estate fish productive linkages between basic science and its applications as well as interdisciplinary systems approaches that focus a number of skills on a common mission.
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From page 10... ...
. Second, federal and state governments should support the establishment of collaborative research centers, promote interdisciplinary conferences and seminars, support sabbaticals for government scientists and other exchange and retraining programs with universities and industrial laboratories, and provide funding for interdisciplinary-program project grants.
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The committee recommends that competitive grants by all agencies in the federal government for biotechnology research related to agriculture total upwards of $500 million annually, a level that could support 3,000 active scientists. This level of support should be achieved by 1990, primarily through competitive grants administered by USDA and the National Science Foundation.
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From page 12... ...
Because public sector investment provides skilled manpower and the knowledge base for innovation, industry should act as an advocate for publicly supported training and research programs in agricultural biotechnology. Industry can also support biotechnology research through direct grants and contracts to universities, cooperative agreements with federal laboratories, and education to inform the general public about the impacts of agricultural biotechnology.
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From page 13... ...
USDA should support at least 400 postdoctoral positions at universities and within the ARS, which represents a quadrupling of the present number, and maintain strong support for graduate-level training. INCREASED RETRAINING PROGRAMS For the short term, highest priority should go to increasing the retraining opportunities available to university faculty and federal scientists to update their background knowledge and provide them with laboratory experience using the tools of biotechnology.
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Public policy should encourage state land-grant universities to confer exclusive licenses on patents to private companies with the resources, marketing, and product interests required to translate these discoveries into commercial products. REGULATION OF FIELD TESTING The government's uncertainty over appropriate regulatory steps has fueled public controversy over the assessment of possible environmental risks from genetically engineered agricultural products.
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From page 15... ...
This interim program should be designed to gain scientific information and practical experience with field testing and to protect the public safety. The current lack of adequate regulatory procedures is halting progress in applying biotechnologies to agriculture.
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