Building Federal Support for Bioenergy Research: Starting Local.

No Representative or Senator has ever lost an election because they didn’t support science. Except for a handful of authentic science “champions”, Congressional lawmakers in general state that they like science, and leave it at that. However, when federal budgets get tight, as is the case with the fiscal year 2012 budget, not to mention the unknowns associated with possible $1.2 trillion in cuts identified by the so-called ‘super committee’, science is often one of the first funding casualties. In general, while much progress has been made, the scientific community hasn’t been very effective educating Congress about the importance and value of the scientific enterprise to innovation and economic development (job creation), which has resulted in stagnant funding for many of the federal science agencies in recent years. The agricultural and food sciences in particular have been and continue to be very difficult for policymakers to understand and appreciate and ultimately support.  At the same time, knowledge and technologies stemming from investments in agricultural and food research and education are essential if we are to have the capacity to meet the many challenges—food and energy security, human nutrition and health, water availability and quality, and agricultural adaptation to and mitigation of climate change—facing the nation and the globe today and in the coming decades.  The more than 10,000 members of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America have the potential to influence and educate policymakers about our sciences, ultimately helping to reverse this downward funding trend. A well-thought-out strategy is needed to energize ASA, CSSA, and SSSA members and provide them with the tools and guidance needed to become effect science advocates.