Public Promises Made – Public Promises Broken: The National Research Initiative, How Well Is It Serving Small Farmers?
Submitted by Marie Powell on Mon, 03/26/2007 - 14:47.
Summary:
The 1998 National Commission on Small Farms stressed the need to address long ignored research priorities of small farms. Following, the Center for Rural Affairs began a project to assess how well USDA was meeting its public pledge for NRI small farm research.
Public Promises Made – Public Promises Broken: The National Research Initiative, How Well Is it Serving Small Farmers?
By Kim Leval, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Rural Affairs
Executive Summary
The Center for Rural Affairs conducted an independent review of 59 National Research Initiative (NRI) proposals obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Specifically we requested all 1998 and 1999 fully funded NRI proposals that were considered by USDA to fall under the NRI special small farm initiative (61 proposals in all).
This review was undertaken to determine what proposals NRI was funding and to judge and evaluate USDA’s pledge and commitment to research relevant to small farms and ranches.
Findings
In our preliminary assessment of the acquired data we found:
>> Small farm relevant NRI project spending in 1998 fell $2.9 million short of the $3.5 million promised by USDA. We found that only $590,340 was actually spent on projects we rated as strongly or potentially relevant to small farms/ranches. That translates to just 17 percent of the promised $3.5 million USDA promised.
>> Instead of the $5 million promised by USDA in 1999 we found that only $1.87 million was spent on nine projects we rated as small farm strong.
>> Out of 59 fully funded proposals - that USDA claimed were relevant to small farms - we found just 13 addressing issues specific to small farms. We rated 4 proposals small farm strong in 1998. In 1999, we rated 9 proposals small farm strong.
>> Out of a $100 million NRI FY budget in 1998, six tenths of one percent was spent on small farm relevant research.
>> In FY 1999 the NRI budget was raised to $120 million; $1.87 million of that was spent on small farm relevant research. Thus, expenditures on small farm relevant research totaled approximately two percent of the entire 1999 NRI budget.
The full report shares other key findings from the assessment of the 59 proposals that NRI staff funded and determined to be relevant to small farms. We also make seven policy recommendations on how USDA and the NRI can further target research to meet the needs of small farms.
Kim Leval is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Center for Rural Affairs and is based in Oregon. Contact her at kimleval@qwest.net.
By Kim Leval, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Rural Affairs
Executive Summary
The Center for Rural Affairs conducted an independent review of 59 National Research Initiative (NRI) proposals obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Specifically we requested all 1998 and 1999 fully funded NRI proposals that were considered by USDA to fall under the NRI special small farm initiative (61 proposals in all).
This review was undertaken to determine what proposals NRI was funding and to judge and evaluate USDA’s pledge and commitment to research relevant to small farms and ranches.
Findings
In our preliminary assessment of the acquired data we found:
>> Small farm relevant NRI project spending in 1998 fell $2.9 million short of the $3.5 million promised by USDA. We found that only $590,340 was actually spent on projects we rated as strongly or potentially relevant to small farms/ranches. That translates to just 17 percent of the promised $3.5 million USDA promised.
>> Instead of the $5 million promised by USDA in 1999 we found that only $1.87 million was spent on nine projects we rated as small farm strong.
>> Out of 59 fully funded proposals - that USDA claimed were relevant to small farms - we found just 13 addressing issues specific to small farms. We rated 4 proposals small farm strong in 1998. In 1999, we rated 9 proposals small farm strong.
>> Out of a $100 million NRI FY budget in 1998, six tenths of one percent was spent on small farm relevant research.
>> In FY 1999 the NRI budget was raised to $120 million; $1.87 million of that was spent on small farm relevant research. Thus, expenditures on small farm relevant research totaled approximately two percent of the entire 1999 NRI budget.
The full report shares other key findings from the assessment of the 59 proposals that NRI staff funded and determined to be relevant to small farms. We also make seven policy recommendations on how USDA and the NRI can further target research to meet the needs of small farms.
Kim Leval is a Senior Policy Analyst with the Center for Rural Affairs and is based in Oregon. Contact her at kimleval@qwest.net.
| Attachment | Size |
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| Public_Promises_Report.pdf | 253.38 KB |
