A bill to establish a Division of Food and Agricultural Science within the National Science Foundation and to authorize funding for the support of fundamental agricultural research of the highest quality, and for other purposes.

Summary: National Food and Agricultural Science Act of 2004 - Establishes: (1) in the National Science Foundation a Division of Food and Agricultural Science, which shall be administered by a Director of Food and Agricultural Science; and (2) in the Division a Standing Council of Advisors.

States that the Division's sole function shall be to award grants to promote complementary, fundamental agricultural research to: (1) individual scientists; (2) single and multi-institutional research centers; and (3) private and public sector entities, including the Department of Agriculture, the Foundation, or other Federal agencies.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Food and Agricultural 
Science Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Council.--The term ``Council'' means the Standing 
        Council of Advisors established under section 4(c).
            (2) Director.--Except as otherwise provided in this Act, 
        the term ``Director'' means the Director of Food and 
        Agricultural Science.
            (3) Division.--The term ``Division'' means the Division of 
        Food and Agricultural Science established under section 4(a).
            (4) Foundation.--The term ``Foundation'' means the National 
        Science Foundation.
            (5) Fundamental agricultural research; fundamental 
        science.--The terms ``fundamental agricultural research'' and 
        ``fundamental science'' mean fundamental research or science 
        that--
                    (A) advances the frontiers of knowledge so as to 
                lead to practical results or to further scientific 
                discovery; and
                    (B) has an effect on agriculture, food, human 
                health, or another purpose of this Act, as described in 
                section 3(b).
            (6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
            (7) United states.--The term ``United States'' when used in 
        a geographical sense means the States, the District of 
        Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and all territories 
        and possessions of the United States.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Agricultural Research, Economics, and Education 
Task Force established under section 7404 of the Farm Security and 
Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 3101 note) conducted an 
exhaustive review of agricultural research in the United States and 
evaluated the merits of establishing 1 or more national institutes 
focused on disciplines important to the progress of food and 
agricultural science. Consistent with the findings and recommendations 
of the Agricultural Research, Economics, and Education Task Force, 
Congress finds the following:
            (1) Agriculture in the United States faces critical 
        challenges, including an impending crisis in the food, 
        agricultural, and natural resource systems of the United 
        States. Exotic diseases and pests threaten crops and livestock, 
        obesity has reached epidemic proportions, agriculturally-
        related environmental degradation is a serious problem for the 
        United States and other parts of the world, certain animal 
        diseases threaten human health, and United States producers of 
        some major crops are no longer the world's lowest cost 
        producers.
            (2) In order to meet these critical challenges, it is 
        essential that the Nation ensure that the agricultural 
        innovation that has been so successful in the past continues in 
        the future. Agricultural innovation has resulted in hybrid and 
        higher yielding varieties of basic crops and enhanced the 
        world's food supply by increasing yields on existing acres. 
        Since 1960, the world's population has tripled with no net 
        increase in the amount of land under cultivation. Currently, 
        only 1.5 percent of the population of the United States 
        provides the food and fiber to supply the Nation's needs. 
        Agriculture and agriculture sciences play a major role in 
        maintaining the health and welfare of all people of the United 
        States and in husbanding our land and water, and that role must 
        be expanded.
            (3) Fundamental scientific research that leads to 
        understandings of how cells and organisms work is critical to 
        continued innovation in agriculture in the United States. Such 
        future innovations are dependent on fundamental scientific 
        research, and will be enhanced by ideas and technologies from 
        other fields of science and research.
            (4) Opportunities to advance fundamental knowledge of 
        benefit to agriculture in the United States have never been 
        greater. Many of these new opportunities are the result of 
        amazing progress in the life sciences over recent decades, 
        attributable in large part to the provision made by the Federal 
        Government through the National Institutes of Health and the 
        National Science Foundation. New technologies and new concepts 
        have speeded advances in the fields of genetics, cell and 
        molecular biology, and proteomics. Much of this scientific 
        knowledge is ready to be mined for agriculture and food 
        sciences, through a sustained, disciplined research effort at 
        an institute dedicated to this research.
            (5) Publicly sponsored research is essential to continued 
        agricultural innovation to mitigate or harmonize the long-term 
        effects of agriculture on the environment, to enhance the long-
        term sustainability of agriculture, and to improve the public 
        health and welfare.
            (6) Competitive, peer-reviewed fundamental agricultural 
        research is best suited to promoting the fundamental research 
        from which breakthrough innovations that agriculture and 
        society require will come.
            (7) It is in the national interest to dedicate additional 
        funds on a long-term, ongoing basis to an institute dedicated 
        to funding competitive peer-reviewed grant programs that 
        support and promote the highest caliber of fundamental 
        agricultural research.
            (8) The Nation's capacity to be competitive internationally 
        in agriculture is threatened by inadequate investment in 
        research.
            (9) To be successful over the long term, grant-receiving 
        institutions must be adequately reimbursed for their costs if 
        they are to pursue the necessary agricultural research.
            (10) To meet these challenges, address these needs, and 
        provide for vitally needed agricultural innovation, it is in 
        the national interest to provide sufficient Federal funds over 
        the long term to fund a significant program of fundamental 
        agricultural research through an independent institute.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of the Division established under 
section 4(a) shall be to ensure that the technological superiority of 
agriculture in the United States effectively serve the people of the 
United States in the coming decades, and to support and promote 
fundamental agricultural research of the highest caliber in order to 
achieve goals, including the following goals:
            (1) Increase the international competitiveness of United 
        States agriculture.
            (2) Develop foods that improve health and combat obesity.
            (3) Create new and more useful food, fiber, health, 
        medicinal, energy, environmental, and industrial products from 
        plants and animals.
            (4) Improve food safety and food security by protecting 
        plants and animals in the United States from insects, diseases, 
        and the threat of bioterrorism.
            (5) Enhance agricultural sustainability and improve the 
        environment.
            (6) Strengthen the economies of the Nation's rural 
        communities.
            (7) Decrease United States dependence on foreign sources of 
        petroleum by developing bio-based fuels and materials from 
        plants.
            (8) Strengthen national security by improving the 
        agricultural productivity of subsistence farmers in developing 
        countries to combat hunger and the political instability that 
        it produces.
            (9) Assist in modernizing and revitalizing the Nation's 
        agricultural research facilities at institutions of higher 
        education, independent non-profit research institutions, and 
        consortia of such institutions, through capital investment.
            (10) Achieve such other goals and meet such other needs as 
        determined appropriate by the Foundation, the Director, or the 
        Secretary.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF DIVISION.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established within the National 
Science Foundation a Division of Food and Agricultural Science. The 
Division shall consist of the Council and be administered by a Director 
of Food and Agricultural Science.
    (b) Reporting and Consultation.--The Director shall coordinate the 
research agenda of the Division with the Secretary.
    (c) Standing Council of Advisors.--
            (1) Establishment.--
                    (A) In general.--There is established in the 
                Division a Standing Council of Advisors composed of 12 
                highly qualified scientists who are not employed by the 
                Federal Government and 12 stakeholders.
                    (B) Scientists.--
                            (i) Appointment.--The 12 scientist members 
                        of the Council shall be appointed to 4-year 
                        staggered terms by the Director of the National 
                        Science Foundation, with the consent of the 
                        Director of Food and Agricultural Science.
                            (ii) Qualifications.--The persons nominated 
                        for appointment as scientist members of the 
                        Council shall be--
                                    (I) eminent in the fields of 
                                agricultural research, science, or 
                                related appropriate fields; and
                                    (II) selected for appointment 
                                solely on the basis of established 
                                records of distinguished service and to 
                                provide representation of the views of 
                                agricultural research and scientific 
                                leaders in all areas of the Nation.
                    (C) Stakeholders.--
                            (i) Appointment.--The 12 stakeholder 
                        members of the Council shall be appointed to 4-
                        year staggered terms by the Secretary, with the 
                        consent of the Director.
                            (ii) Qualifications.--The persons nominated 
                        for appointment as stakeholder members of the 
                        Council shall--
                                    (I) include distinguished members 
                                of the public of the United States, 
                                including representatives of farm 
                                organizations and industry, and persons 
                                knowledgeable about the environment, 
                                subsistence agriculture, energy, and 
                                human health and disease; and
                                    (II) be selected for appointment so 
                                as to provide representation of the 
                                views of stakeholder leaders in all 
                                areas of the Nation.
            (2) Duties.--The Council shall assist the Director in 
        establishing the Division's research priorities, and in 
        reviewing, judging, and maintaining the relevance of the 
        programs funded by the Division. The Council shall review all 
        proposals approved by the scientific committees of the Division 
        to ensure that the purposes of this Act and the needs of the 
        Nation are being met.
            (3) Meetings.--
                    (A) In general.--The Council shall hold periodic 
                meetings in order to--
                            (i) provide an interface between scientists 
                        and stakeholders; and
                            (ii) ensure that the Division is linking 
                        national goals with realistic scientific 
                        opportunities.
                    (B) Timing.--The meetings shall be held at the call 
                of the Director, or at the call of the Secretary, but 
                not less frequently than annually.

SEC. 5. FUNCTIONS OF DIVISION.

    (a) Competitive Research.--
            (1) In general.--The Director shall carry out the purposes 
        of this Act by awarding competitive peer-reviewed grants to 
        support and promote the very highest quality of fundamental 
        agricultural research.
            (2) Grant recipients.--The Director shall make grants to 
        fund research proposals submitted by--
                    (A) individual scientists;
                    (B) single and multi-institutional research 
                centers; and
                    (C) entities from the private and public sectors, 
                including researchers in the Department of Agriculture, 
                the Foundation, or other Federal agencies.
    (b) Complementary Research.--The research funded by the Division 
shall--
            (1) supplement and enhance, not supplant, the existing 
        research programs of, or funded by, the Department of 
        Agriculture, the Foundation, and the National Institutes of 
        Health; and
            (2) seek to make existing research programs more relevant 
        to United States agriculture, consistent with the purposes of 
        this Act.
    (c) Grant-Awarding Only.--The Division's sole duty shall be to 
award grants. The Division may not conduct fundamental agricultural 
research or fundamental science, or operate any laboratories or pilot 
plants.
    (d) Procedures.--The Director shall establish procedures for the 
peer review, awarding, and administration of grants under this Act, 
consistent with sound management and the findings and purposes 
described in section 3.