Legislative view of research

Congress has its own perception of research; whether it equates to reality is up to the research community. Many in Congress perceive that the research community is free-floating and is not focused on addressing the problems that face the United States today. Recent government reports have reviewed the purposes, accountability, and challenges facing the traditional research and extension system as it enters the 1990s. These reports send a strong message that the status quo will not work sufficiently in the 1990s. How does this affect agricultural research dollars? Congress, in response to its own perceptions, has strived to establish priorities by allocating resources to key projects. Whether this is in the best interest of the nation is debatable. The agricultural research community needs to establish priorities and to communicate them effectively; otherwise someone less informed in the Congress will do it.