January 20, 2015
Dear National C-FAR Members & Supporters,
I am pleased to present the 2014 National C-FAR Annual Report. National C-FAR’s basic mission is to sustain and
increase federal funding in food and agricultural research, Extension and education (RE&E). Our unique role is to
provide a common forum and a unified voice, bringing together stakeholders in the research, extension and
education (RE&E) community and entities representing research ‘customers’—e.g., the diverse array of
stakeholders who need and benefit from research outcomes. As a customer-led coalition, National C-FAR seeks to
complement the efforts of allied groups, such as APLU (BAA), CAST, the AFRI Coalition, SoAR and AGree. The
actions and outcomes highlighted in this report are made possible through the ownership involvement of
Members and Sponsors, with limited funding leveraged through collaborative efforts.
Two basic premises help guide the National C-FAR Board of Directors in shaping the program of action:
1) There is significant value when research ‘customers’ play a more prominent role in making the “ask” for federal
funding, and 2) It is important to focus limited available resources where National C-FAR can contribute
maximum value to the larger overall effort. National C-FAR continued to focus on the following areas in 2014:
1) Education, with a Purpose—Laying the groundwork for longer term
funding success through our highly successful ‘Lunch~N~Learn’ Hill
Seminar Series. RESULTS!!! 600+ attendees through 12 seminars in
2014—more than 6,000 attendees through 94 seminars over 10 years—
about the value of federal funding in food and agricultural RE&E
through a mosaic of leading-edge presenters and topics and that also
provided timely information that help staff do their jobs. The
‘education with a purpose’ objective is more informed and positive
recommendations by hill staff to Members of Congress about funding
for food and agricultural RE&E.
2) Targeted Advocacy—Providing opportunities to give a greater voice to ‘customers’ and other stakeholders in
support of sustaining and increasing funding in the budget and appropriations process and a strengthened
farm bill research title. RESULTS!!! 2014 Farm Bill authorized new Foundation for Food and Agricultural
Research (FFAR) and provided $20 million in mandatory funding. FFAR open for business! AFRI funded at
$325 million, generally sustaining funding levels for other REE budget lines.
3) Healthy Ag-People Summit—A special task force organized and convened this special summit initiative, to
increase awareness about the human health benefits that public investments in food and ag science can
provide and seek to broaden support for public funding. This launched an ongoing initiative.
In looking forward, 2015 presents fresh challenges and opportunities, including implementation of the new farm
bill with a focus on the new Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), building on last year’s “Healthy
Agriculture-Healthy People Summit,” the eleventh year of the ‘Lunch~N~Learn’ Hill Seminar Series, and the annual
budget and appropriations process.
Thanks to the increased involvement and support of National C-FAR Members and Sponsors, your organization is
better positioned to take on these critical challenges and opportunities. The 2014 budget year ended with a
positive bottom line, with 10 months’ reserves. Efforts will continue to build Membership-Sponsorship in 2015.
I look forward to working with you in 2015. Your involvement and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.
Executive Director
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NATIONAL C-FAR 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
Click Here for a presentation by ROC Co-Chairs Gina Luke (AVMA) and Caron Gala (CFARE) that provides an overview of National C-FAR’s 2014 action program.
National C-FAR as a ‘customer-led’ coalition took outreach and advocacy actions on a number of fronts
in 2014 in support of federal funding for food and ag RE&E. Insights on the direction set by the Board
can be found in the 2014 annual meeting minutes and the December 17, 2014 year-end meeting
minutes.
OUTREACH—EDUCATION WITH A PURPOSE
‘Lunch~N~Learn’ Hill Seminars—12 Seminars with 618 Attendees in 2014:
The hill seminar series is education with a purpose. National C-FAR is working to increase hill staff
awareness of, and appreciation for, the value of food and agricultural RE&E and their important
outcomes. This effort lays the necessary foundation of knowledge for maintaining existing funding
levels, and for achieving future funding increases when the budget climate improves. The moderator for
National C-FAR and guest presenter at each hill seminar are tasked to ensure the seminars stay “on
message” by highlighting (1) the contribution of federal funding to the project, and (2) additional
research and scientific outcomes that need additional funding, driven by identified or anticipated realworld challenges. In keeping with National C-FAR’s mission to advocate funding for ALL food and
agricultural RE&E, a mix of intra-mural and extramural speakers and projects is selected.
The ‘Lunch~N~Learn’ Hill Seminar series has a high brand recognition. Attendance by hill staff has been
strong, and feedback from key hill staff has been positive. Over the past 10 years, National C-FAR has
hosted a total of 94 seminars. There have been over 6,000 attendees. Click Here for presentations and
other highlights of each seminar in 2014.
Leading researchers representing a variety of disciplines from well over 50 institutions and agencies
across the nation have presented research related to timely topics of interest to hill staff, agency
officials and interested stakeholders. Click Here for more seminar series highlights, including topics,
speakers, presentations, media releases and photo collages back to the first year, in 2005.
Examples are provided of the
first words they saw in the
subject line of their e-mail
invitations to our hill seminars
in 2014.
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EASY AS ABC, 123!
MORE CROP FOR THE DROP
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION—INNOVATION FOR
THE NEXT CENTURY
TO LABEL OR NOT TO LABEL
DETOURS ON THE ROAD TO SUSTAINABLE FEEDSTOCK
PRODUCTION FOR CELLULOSIC BIOFUEL
SHIFTING WINDS IN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
FARM ANIMAL RESEARCH IN CRISIS
CARVING THE PATH FOR THE NATION’S FUTURE
FOR NATURAL RESOURCES
FROM FARM TO CELL
CORNUCOPIA IN THE CITIES
NIFA VISION
YOU CAN EAT WHAT DOESN’T GROW
It is a major challenge to get
busy hill staff to attend
briefings.
National C-FAR’s
team is literally competing for 
their time and attention. The 

Research Outreach Committee 
(ROC) selects eye-catching
titles for timely and substantive research topics that will pique curiosity and motivate the recipient to
look further at the abstract to learn what the heck the seminar is about, and hopefully deciding to make
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time to attend. Our team works diligently to maintain a contacts database for about 2,000 busy hill
staff, agency officials and interested stakeholders.
The ROC has sought feedback from hill staff, and the seminar series has evolved and improved by
listening carefully and incorporating their good recommendations. The “brand identity” of the
“Lunch~N~Learn” Hill Seminars is well established. Hill staff have provided continuing feedback that
they appreciate receiving the invitations and take away information that is useful in their own work.
National C-FAR continues to look for ways to improve the effectiveness of the hill seminar series. For
example, over the past two years, when schedules permitted, the same seminar was presented, without
refreshments, at a meeting room adjacent to the Senate Agriculture Committee hearing room to be
more convenient for Senate staff as well as for those who were unable to attend the luncheon seminar
at the House Agriculture Committee. While attendance on the Senate side has been limited, this
approach has proven to reach additional staff and other stakeholders, with quality discussion.
The active involvement of members and supporters remains crucial to success. Members and
supporters continue to be responsive to requests for speaker-topic nominations. National C-FAR works
diligently to leverage limited funds through collaborative efforts—including generous sponsorships,
speaker travel costs underwritten by institutions and national trade associations, and through
partnering efforts such as with CAST.
The ROC team continued to select topics and dates in concert with other major events, such as National
Invasive Species Awareness Week, National Ag Day and World Food Day, to create synergies and elevate
the profile of food and ag RE&E as part of the dialog surrounding such events. Liaisons for the key
research agencies in USDA have served as a resource to the ROC by helping to identify outstanding
seminar speakers and timely topics.
Based on the principle that busy hill staff are more likely to respond when they receive invitations from
people they know, an action request is sent in advance of each seminar to National C-FAR members and
supporters, providing an easy way to support the outreach effort by sending a personalized invitation to
their own hill staff contacts. A media advisory is also sent out for each seminar.
How well has this “education with a purpose” worked in advancing National C-FAR’s mission?
Unfortunately, no way has been identified of measuring the impact of the seminar series as a ‘building
block’ on hill staff recommendations to Members of Congress regarding funding. At a minimum hill staff
that receive the e-mails and/or attend are more aware and informed about what federal RE&E funding
provides, laying the groundwork for more positive outcomes when advocacy actions and contacts are
made.
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Seeking to Engage Public Health Stakeholders: Organized by a special task force of the ROC, a Healthy
Agriculture-Healthy Food Summit was convened on April 7, 2014, World Health Day, at the U.S. Capitol
Visitors Center. The goals of the Summit, and subsequent actions, are motivated by the vision of
broadening support in the public health community for Federal funding for food and ag RE&E.
A day-long, “brand development” strategic planning and visioning meeting was facilitated in September
by Global Prairie. National C-FAR members and NIFA Director Ramaswamy. The consensus positioning
statement is: “We improve global health—from all perspectives—by identifying and advocating for
agricultural research that strengthens the connection between agriculture and health, leading policy
makers and health influencers to take action to meet global challenges.”
A task force report and recommendations were presented to the Board at the December 17 meeting,
and the Board voted in support of moving forward with the concepts as part of approving the 2015
action plan as recommended by the ROC.
Dialogue with Extension Leaders: National C-FAR hosted a special dialogue with cooperative Extension
leaders about the future of the cooperative Extension system, in conjunction with the year-end Board
meeting in December. Click Here for AV recording.
TARGETED ADVOCACY ACTIONS
In keeping with its mission, National C-FAR took a number of targeted actions on the advocacy front
related to budget and appropriations, implementation of the 2014 Agricultural Act, and building the
base of support for federal funding for food and ag RE&E. Selected highlights:
 Support for Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR). Examples—
o Group letter to farm bill conferees expressing appreciation for including FFAR authorization
and mandatory funding in final conference report.
o Letter of appreciation ton for USDA leadership actions to establish FFAR and founding
Board.
o Congratulations and offer of support to FFAR founding Board members.
 Testimony, Senate Appropriations Committee on scientific innovation, highlighting the role of food
and ag science in advancing innovation.
 FY15 Testimony to Senate Ag Appropriations.
 FY15 Testimony to House Ag Appropriations.
National C-FAR also played a role in facilitating other group letters, sending out action alerts about
opportunities where stakeholders could add their voices in support of federal funding for food and
agricultural RE&E, and signing group letters as appropriate. Click Here to access archived documents.
Looking ahead, we certainly can’t afford to stand still in our approach to making the case for federal
funding for food and agricultural RE&E in this highly competitive and constantly changing policy arena.
We look forward to your growing ownership involvement and support in 2015.
questions and suggestions are always welcome!
Your feedback,
Respectfully Submitted,
R. Thomas Van Arsdall
Executive Director
012015
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