7 U.S.C. § 3121 — Responsibilities of Secretary and Department of Agriculture

The Department of Agriculture^* is designated as the Federal Government’s lead agency for agricultural research^*, except for the biomedical aspects of human nutrition that concern diagnosing or treating disease, and for extension^* and teaching^* in the food and agricultural sciences^*. In carrying out the Secretary’s responsibilities, the Secretary^* must—

(1) jointly establish with the Secretary of Health and Human Services procedures for coordinating nutrition research in areas of mutual interest;

(2) stay informed about developments in, and the Nation’s need for, research, extension, teaching, and workforce development in the food and agricultural sciences. The Secretary must represent those needs in discussions within the Department of Agriculture, elsewhere in the Federal executive branch, and with the States and their designated land-grant colleges and universities^*, other colleges and universities, agricultural and related industries, and other interested institutions and groups;

(3) coordinate all agricultural research, extension, and teaching activities conducted or financed by the Department of Agriculture and, as far as practicable, by other Federal executive-branch agencies;

(4) take the lead in coordinating State^*-Federal cooperative agricultural research, extension, and teaching programs in each State that the Department of Agriculture funds in whole or in part. The coordination must occur through the administrative heads of land-grant colleges and universities, the State directors of agricultural experiment stations and cooperative extension services^*, and other appropriate program administrators;

(5) consult the Advisory Board^* and appropriate Department of Agriculture advisory committees when forming basic policies, goals, strategies, and priorities for agricultural research, extension, and teaching programs;

(6) as part of the Department of Agriculture’s yearly budget submissions, report to the House Committee on Agriculture, the House Committee on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and the Senate Committee on Appropriations about actions taken or proposed to support the Advisory Board’s recommendations;

(7) establish suitable review procedures to ensure that agricultural research projects are reported and published on time and properly, and that agricultural research units do not unnecessarily duplicate or overlap work;

(8) establish Federal or cooperative multidisciplinary research teams for major agricultural research problems, with clearly defined leadership, budget responsibility, and research programs;

(9) to promote coordination of the Department of Agriculture’s agricultural research, continually inventory ongoing and completed research projects conducted within or funded by the Department;

(10) coordinate all agricultural research, extension, and teaching activities conducted or financed by the Department with the periodic renewable-resource assessment and program under sections 1601 and 1602 of title 16 and with the appraisal and program under sections 2004 and 2005 of title 16;

(11) coordinate the efforts of the States, State cooperative institutions^*, State extension services, the Advisory Board, and other appropriate institutions to assess the current status of, and develop a plan for, effectively transferring new technologies, including biotechnology, to the farming community. The plan must especially address the unique problems small and medium-sized farms face in getting information about those technologies; and

(12) establish suitable controls concerning the development and use of biotechnology applications in agriculture.