[CED/CD/EAT] FW: [EXT]Cornerstone Call to Action

Tue Jun 16 16:02:06 MST 2020

FYI…

Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, Ph.D.
Associate Dean
Director of Extension and Economic Development
Division of Agriculture, Life, & Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension
Forbes 301
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona          85721-0036
520-621-7205

From: Maggie Earle <mearle at cgagroup.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2020 3:26 PM
To: Silvertooth, Jeffrey C - (silverto) <Silver at ag.arizona.edu>
Subject: [EXT]Cornerstone Call to Action

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Call to Action
June 16, 2020
FY 2021 Appropriations Follow-up

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee will begin markups for the FY 2021 appropriations bills the week of June 22, with the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee scheduled to markup the FY 2021 Agriculture Appropriations bill on Thursday, July 2nd.

The House Appropriations Subcommittees are aiming to begin markups immediately following the July 4th holiday weekend. Subcommittees have targeted the week of July 6th, with full committee expected to convene immediately after. From there, the full committee is aiming to bring all 12 bills to the House floor during the last two weeks of July. While the Senate has not discussed a target date, action will likely follow the House.

With Congress consumed with COVID-19 relief and elections, a continuing resolution (CR) and delay of the final spending bills is highly likely.

As this will likely be our last chance influence FY 2021 appropriations, we strongly encourage you to take the time to follow up with your state's congressional delegation and reiterate the importance of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) funding at your institution. Additionally, you may wish to consider engaging with your institution’s congressional affairs representative with this call to action. Please undertake any activities in a manner consistent with your institution's standard procedures for making congressional contacts.
________________________________________________________________________

Dear HOUSE/SENATE STAFFER,

As the HOUSE/SENATE Agriculture Appropriations Committee begins markup on the FY 2021 Agriculture Appropriations bill, I would like to reiterate the importance of funding for the agricultural research and extension programs that UNIVERSITY uses to positively impact the lives of STATE’s farmers, ranchers and consumers.

I urge you to support an 8% increase over FY20 funding for USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) capacity building programs including Hatch, Smith-Lever, Evans-Allen, 1890 Extension, and McIntire Stennis. Furthermore, I also request that 1994 Extension, teaching (via Payments to 1994 Institutions), and research (Research Grants for 1994 Institutions) receive increases. Please see the table below for more detail about these programs. These USDA programs support the complete continuum of R&D activity to support our farmers and ranchers—from basic/discovery-based research in the lab to trails in the field/farm. These capacity grant programs spur agricultural innovation across the nation and provide essential knowledge, training, and informal education to our local communities. The Cooperative Extension System, which also supports 4-H education, ensures that the applications of this research are available to stakeholders. Capacity programs ensure research and delivery of agricultural innovations.

I support the APLU request of $460 million for the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the nation’s leading competitive grants program for agricultural sciences. AFRI awards support innovative research to address the food, natural resource and energy needs of our nation.  These competitively awarded grants support the basic and applied research that will find innovative solutions to the most pressing local and global agricultural problems and will train the next generation of the agricultural workforce.

I urge you to support the APLU request for funding the USDA 1994 Institutions’ programs for the Native American tribally controlled colleges and universities. This includes competitive research grants and capacity funding for Extension Services and education grants.

I ask REPRESENTATIVE/SENATOR to support the request of UNIVERSITY and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities of additional funding to support these nine core priorities:

Program
FY 2021
Requested
Amount
Program Description
Hatch Act
(Research and Education Programs)
$280,000,000
Provides capacity funding to support the State Agricultural Experiment Station research, enabling them complete applied research to address critical national, multi-state, state and local problems.
Smith‐Lever
(Extension Activities)
$341,000,000
Provides capacity funding for Cooperative Extension to deliver research-based programs and resources for communities, businesses, and individuals to meet local needs.
Evans‐Allen
(Research and Education Programs)
$73,000,000
Provides capacity funding to support agricultural research at the 1890 Land‐grant Institutions, including Tuskegee University.
1890 Extension
(Extension Activities)
$62,000,000
Provides capacity funding to support extension activities at the 1890 Institutions to provide educational opportunities that respond to the changing needs of limited‐resource, minorities and economically disadvantaged clients.
McIntire‐Stennis
(Research and Education Programs)
$39,000,000
Provides funding to support forestry research (which includes forests and related rangelands) at Land-grant and other public universities.
AFRI
(Research and Education Programs)
$460,000,000
Provides competitively awarded research, Extension and education grants addressing key issues of national and regional importance to agriculture, forestry and related topics.
Research Grants for 1994 Institutions
$5,800,000
Provides competitively awarded grants to support agricultural research that addresses high-priority concerns for tribal, national, or multistate significance, including investigative and analytical studies in the food and agricultural sciences.
Extension Services at 1994 Institutions
$9,000,000
Provides capacity funding to support extension services at 1994 institutions so address special needs, take advantage of important opportunities, and/or demonstrate long-term sustained benefits of extension projects at 1994 land-grant institutions.
Payments to the 1994 Institutions
(Tribal Colleges Education Equity Grants Program)
$6,000,000
Provides capacity funding to support faculty who develop classes and degree programs that teach science and math to American Indians, focusing on agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences.

Additional information on each line can be found on our website, land-grant.org, or on the official APLU FY 2021 One-Pager<https://cgagroup.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f96d6beb5306374d2ee2e12a&id=7a65b62b7d&e=c84662b305>.

Thank you for supporting the key programs used by our Land-grant universities to feed, fuel, and clothe the world. Please let me know if I can provide additional information.

________________________________________________________________________________

In addition to your efforts on the annual Agriculture Appropriations bill, we also remind you to follow up with your Congressional delegation regarding our request for COVID-19 relief. You can find the Support for COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Call to Action HERE<https://cgagroup.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f96d6beb5306374d2ee2e12a&id=2b5a3daceb&e=c84662b305>.

Finally, the Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy (ESCOP) is working to outline the infrastructure needs of the system and finalize a request for infrastructure funding. Congress is beginning to consider components of what could be an infrastructure bill, however it is still unclear whether they will be a vehicle for an economic stimulus bill or combined into a larger COVID-19 response package. Cornerstone and ESCOP will continue to keep you updated as things develop. In the meantime, we ask that you consider discussing some of your institution’s infrastructure needs when communicating with your Representatives. You can find the Critical Infrastructure Support for Colleges of Agriculture at Land-grant Universities document HERE<https://cgagroup.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f96d6beb5306374d2ee2e12a&id=05cfc75d82&e=c84662b305>. A formal call to action will be sent out when timely.

Thank you for your continued assistance.

If you have any questions or need any help with the process, please let us know.
Jim Richards: jrichards at cgagroup.com<mailto:jrichards at cgagroup.com>
Hunt Shipman: hshipman at cgagroup.com<mailto:hshipman at cgagroup.com>
Vernie Hubert: vhubert at cgagroup.com<mailto:vhubert at cgagroup.com>
Maggie Earle: mearle at cgagroup.com<mailto:mearle at cgagroup.com>

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