---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 16:18:15 -0800
>From: Jennifer Teed <jteed@cs.UCR.edu>
To: thodges@beta.tricity.wsu.edu
This posting is a reply to an article posted by Tom Hodges (thoges@
beta.tricity.wsu.edu). It was not written by me. Please do not
reply to my account. Instead please respond directly to titan@ucrac1.ucr.edu.
I apologize for not using the normal response mechanism to reply, but by
the time I got around to posting it the original article had expired at my
site. Thank you, --JAT
Dear Tom:
I appreciated your message regarding possible cuts in agricultural research
funding, including your pitch for more or continued systems research. While
I agree with you about the importance of systems research, it seems to me
that the issues right now are much broader than that. Agricultural research
has provided more $$ in return its investment than perhaps any other area
of research. The current productivity of American agriculture would have
been impossible without research by, among others, the Agricultural Research
Service (ARS). This nation has remained extremely competitive in the
agricultural arena because of past and ongoing research conducted by ARS
and its sister organizations. In addition to ensuring abundant and affordable
food supplies, basic and applied agricultural research has also addressed a
large number of environmental issues such as soil and water pollution by
agricultural and other chemicals, soil erosion, and soil salinity. For
example, computer models and instrumentation developed at our U.S. Salinity
Laboratory for predicting of monitoring solute transport in the subsurface is
being used by a large number of federal and state planning/actions agencies
(EPA, NRCS, DOE, NRC, Water Districts, Extension Personnel), universities,
and countless private firms dealing with subsurface pollution problems.
Hence, the impacts of agricultural research are felt far outside the
traditional farming communities, and also involve job-creating technologies
for U.S. workers, as well the development of point-source pollution
remediation techniques. ARS research has helped to improve or maintain the
general competitiveness of the U.S. in the world. Much, much more can be
said about all of this. The bottom line is that agricultural research is an
investment with proven long-term payoffs, and that cutting this research
will hurt American business, as well the health of our soil and water
resources.
Rien van Genuchten, Soil Physicist/Hydrologist email: titan@ucrac1.ucr.edu
U.S. Salinity Laboratory voice: 909-369-4847
4500 Glenwood Drive fax: 909-369-4818
Riverside, CA 92501, USA
>>>>>> Tom Hodges Comments here <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Dear Rien,
I fully agree with your comments on the importance of basic agricultural
research to a wide range of public interests both in the USA and abroad.
I was very interested to read your comments on the use of your lab's
research in environmental protection. Are there other labs and centers
out there with similar stories to tell?
On another note, if you want to tell your Congressional your feelings
about agricultural research (pro or con), all their Wash DC phone #s,
postal addresses, and 58 email addresses are available over the world
wide web at http://www.house.gov -- the information there says to only
use the email addresses to talk to Your Representative. I am not aware
of a similar site for the US Senate.
Again my apologies for inflicting this USA issue on the rest of the
world.
Tom Hodges
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.