Download NIFA Survey of Priority Issues

A Family and Consumer Sciences Survey of
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Priorities
An Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Board on Human Sciences Report
To the Division of Family and Consumer Sciences
Institute for Youth, Family and Community
National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
April 2011
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Board on Human Sciences conducted a
study, A Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Survey of NIFA Priorities, to determine the
degree to which Family and Consumer Sciences is implementing the National Institute of Food
and Agriculture (NIFA) priorities at land-grant institutions. The study focused on Family and
Consumer Sciences (FCS) initiatives that demonstrate research and cooperative extension
program capacity in the five NIFA priority areas. The goal of the study was to identify
outstanding Family and Consumer Sciences Cooperative Extension and research programs
related to the five NIFA priority areas:
 Global Food Security and Hunger
 Climate Change and the Environment
 Sustainable Energy
 Childhood Obesity, and
 Food Safety
The FCS Survey of NIFA Priorities requested qualitative data that described programs related
to the five NIFA priorities. The recipients of the survey include administrators of Family and
Consumer Sciences, Human Sciences, Human Ecology and related units. Administrators
provided a total of 64 responses, representing 43 universities and 47 distinct academic units.
Responses were submitted by 1862, 1890 and 1994 land-grant institutions and 4 non-land-grant
universities. The diverse names of academic units that have Family and Consumer Sciences
programs reflect the difficulty of achieving the goal of a “common language” for the field.
With the new NIFA structure, integration and interdisciplinary partnerships are essential to
leading edge research, extension and outreach. Research and extension programs in Family and
Consumer Sciences are a vital part of each of the NIFA priorities: Global Food Security and
Hunger, Climate Change, Sustainable Energy, Childhood Obesity, and Food Safety.
The high level of participation of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) in Cooperative
Extension programs focused on Global Food Security and Hunger as well as Childhood Obesity
reflects commitment to these NIFA priorities. The Division of Family and Consumer Sciences is
integral to many of the issues challenging individuals, families, communities and the American
and global economies at this time. The Division motto, Strengthening Families, Farms,
Communities and the Economy, conveys the mission clearly and concisely.
An overview of the extent to which Family and Consumer Sciences programs reflect the NIFA priorities
is presented in the following table.
NIFA PRIORITY
Implementation in Family & Consumer Sciences (in percentages)
Global Food Security & Hunger
Climate Change & Environment
Sustainable Energy
Childhood Obesity
Cooperative Extension Programs (percent of programs reported)
Research/Experiment Station Research (percent of programs reported)
100 %
90 %
80 %
70 %
60 %
50 %
40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
Food Safety
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Family and Consumer Sciences Programs provide innovative and sustainable educational
experiences that integrate nutrition and physical activity to enhance the health of children, youth
and families. Family and Consumer Sciences programs also make significant contributions to
programs in Food Safety and Sustainable Energy as well as Climate Change and the
Environment. Family and Consumer Sciences programs need to be embedded in all NIFA
priorities to assure that the human dimensions of food and agriculture are identified and
addressed.
To enhance research in Family and Consumer Sciences, the goals include: program capacity
development focused on the NIFA priorities, developing strategic partnerships, fostering
grantsmanship and assuring that Family and Consumer Sciences has a consistent language that is
included in relevant Requests for Applications (RFAs). To achieve these goals, the Board on
Human Sciences encourages U.S. Department of Agriculture administrators in integrate the
mission and language of Family and Consumer Sciences to take advantage of the important
contributions that this unit within the National Institute of Food and Agriculture