1999 ARS Annual Performance Report

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The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) was established on November 2, 1953, pursuant to authority vested in the Secretary of Agriculture by 5 U.S.C. 301 and Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1953, and other authorities.

ARS is the principal in-house research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Congress first authorized federally supported agricultural research in the Organic Act of 1862, which established what is now USDA. That statute directed the Commissioner of Agriculture '... To acquire and preserve in his Department all information he can obtain by means of books and correspondence, and by practical and scientific experiments...' The scope of USDA's agricultural research programs has been expanded and extended more than 60 times in the 135 years since the Department was created.

The research currently performed by ARS is authorized by the Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1862 (7 U.S.C. 2201, 2204), Research and Marketing Act of 1946, amended (7 U.S.C. 427, 1621), Food and Agriculture Act of 1977, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1281 note), Food Security Act of 1985 (7 U.S.C. 3101 note), Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 1421 note), Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (FAIR Act), and the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (PL. 105-185).

The ARS mission is to conduct research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority and provide information access and dissemination to: ensure high-quality, safe food, and other agricultural products; assess the nutritional needs of Americans; sustain a competitive agricultural economy; enhance the natural resource base and the environment; and provide economic opportunities for rural citizens, communities, and society as a whole.

Verification, Validation, and Program Evaluation:ARS currently conducts a series of review processes designed to ensure the relevance and quality of its research work and maintain the highest possible standards for its scientists. This process involves customer input to help keep the research focused on the technical needs of the American food and agricultural system. Each of the approximately 1,100 research projects undergoes a thorough merit review before new or renewed activities are begun. All ARS employees, including the scientific workforce, are subject to annual performance reviews, and the senior scientists undergo a rigorous peer review (Research Position Evaluation System--RPES) on a 3- to 5-year cycle. These processes ensure the continuing high quality of the ARS scientific workforce.

ARS is in the process of restructuring the way it organizes and manages its national research programs. As part of this process, ARS has aggregated its 1,100 research projects into 23 national programs managed by multi-disciplinary teams of National Program Leaders (NPLs). The national programs will focus the work of the Agency on achieving the goals defined in the ARS Strategic Plan. In FY 2000, ARS will begin a series of program and program component reviews that will supplement current merit, and RPES reviews to ensure the quality, relevancy, effectiveness, and productivity of the work being done in each national program. The annual performance plans will also serve to keep the work of the Agency focused on achieving the goals established in the ARS Strategic Plan. The aggregate effect of these changes will be a strengthened research program and an accountability system that will measure more effectively the progress made towards established goals and outcomes.

Additional information describing the key external factors affecting the ability of ARS to achieve the goals and objectives described in this report and a description of the Agency. s partnerships with other Federal agencies can be found in the introduction to the ARS Annual Performance Plan. The Annual Performance Plan and Report are available on the ARS home page . www.ars.usda.gov.

In January 1998, ARS requested permission from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 'to describe specific and tangible products, steps, intermediate goals, and/or accomplishments that will demonstrate that the Agency has successfully met each Performance Measure/Goal in a given fiscal year.' With OMB. s concurrence, the ARS has employed narrative descriptions of intermediate outcomes and indicators of progress instead of numerical metrics as specified in GPRA. The indicators listed in this Annual Performance Report represent intermediate outcomes, significant products or anticipated impacts of the Agency. s work, which will serve to measure progress during FY 1999. The research and technology transfer activities listed in this report are not all inclusive of the Agency. s work. The indicators reflect, but do not adequately capture the broad range of basic research that underpins much of the Agency. s work. Because of the unique nature of research, as recognized by the OMB waiver, ARS accomplishments are described using a nonnumeric narrative approach that may differ from the style and format used by most other USDA Agencies.

Only Federal employees were involved in the preparation of this report.

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