National Barley Improvement Committee advocates on the Hill for critical research positions
The National Barley Improvement Committee, which represents the U.S. barley community of growers, researchers, processors, users, and allied industries, spent last week in Washington, D.C. advocating on behalf of federal research funding for the barley industry. Twenty-eight stakeholders visited over 90 offices delivering a unified message on the importance of federal barley research programs, strained by ongoing vacancies in critical research roles. NBIC’s top priority focused on addressing a dozen vacancies that are limiting capacity for research within the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Those roles directly support several research initiatives that round out the NBIC priorities, including the Resilient Barley Initiative (RBI), the Barley Pest Initiative (BPI), the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI), and the Small Grains Genomic Initiative (SGGI). Each leverages federal funds to support work across multiple states within ARS research units and Land Grant universities. Additionally, researchers leverage investments from private industry made by the American Malting Barley Association and state check-off dollars to support these programs. Members of the NBIC fly-in stressed the importance of agricultural research and the incredible return on investment realized, especially as so many of our global competitors are outpacing our investments. Given the new Administration’s priority to support domestic self-reliance and reversal of the agricultural trade deficit, initiatives like the RBI are critical to bolster resilience in the supply chain and to lessen the reliance on imported barley. “Our Hill climb was timed perfectly this year as federal appropriators were hard at work identifying their funding priorities for FY27,” said Ashley McFarland, who serves as executive secretary of the NBIC. “Not only were we able to make our requests for federal research support, but we were able to illustrate how these federal vacancies inhibit our ability to conduct the work they have supported through appropriations. We urged Congress to address this issue with USDA and the Administration so that this important research can continue.”
