Long-Range Planning Can Improve the Efficiency of Agricultural Research and Development

Increasing demands for food and fiber combined with increasing pressures on agricultural inputs-water, land, and energy--make it all the more important that national long-range planning be undertaken for agricultural research and development. Currently, such planning is not being conducted. Proposed legislation would require the Department of Agriculture, in conjunction with the States, to make a food needs assessment as the first step in developing a national long-range plan. They would then be able to determine the research required to meet identified food and agricultural needs. In addition, GAO recommends that the Department prepare a long-range plan for the agricultural research it funds and directs. (Author).

Originally published in 1987, this book challenged readers to consider the political issues, agency practices, and social directions of planning adult learning programs and services at the time. It confronts the subject of planning from the perspective of federally constituted countries where policies of decentralization generally prevail. It proposes that the concept of adult education may be too narrow to accommodate the breadth of adult learning in many different sectors, not only the Education sector. In clarifying main issues surrounding planning of adult learning, the book opens up new horizons for thinking about a field which heretofore had at best appeared conceptually confusing and politically unclear.