Food Politics - FDA cutting back on research

[housewolf]

A couple of days ago, William Neuman wrote about an announcement by the USDA’s statistical research unit that under pressures to cut budget, it would eliminate or cut back on its ongoing research reports.

This is alarming.

As USDA explained:

The decision to eliminate or reduce these reports was not made lightly, but it was nevertheless necessary, given the funding situation. Because of the timing of the agency’s survey work during the coming year, these decisions are necessary now.

The affected reports include these, among others:
Annual Reports on Farm Numbers, Land in Farms and Livestock Operations – Eliminate
Catfish and Trout Reports – Eliminate all
Annual Floriculture Report – Eliminate
Chemical Use Reports – Reduce frequency of commodity coverage
Annual Bee and Honey Report – Eliminate
Fruit and Vegetable in-season forecast and estimates– Reduce from monthly and quarterly to annual report
Nursery Report – Eliminate

This decision, Neuman reports, “reflects a cold-blooded assessment of the economic usefulness”—translation: lack of political clout in the affected industry—of the 500 or so reports issued by the National Agriculture Statistics Service each year. The reports will still be issued on the big commodities: corn, soybeans, cattle, and pigs, for example.

Why do I find this alarming? If these reports can be eliminated, so can the ones that I personally care about and depend on for my research.

I am particularly worried about the invaluable data produced by USDA’s Economic Research Service on the composition of foods, their availability (production less exports plus imports), and per capita nutrient availability in the American diet.

Read more:
http://www.foodpolitics.com/2011/11/oh-no-usda-cutting-back-on-research/

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Well to the world of the Gov Budget Brinksmanship, AKA the Poison Pill

Take fairly low cost stuff and put it on the chopping block to help defend you budget. Done at all levels of government.