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Abstract
Executive Summary: A new decisionmaking process is beginning to emerge in food and agricultural science and education. The evaluation of economic, social, and environmental impacts is an integral part of that process. A series of changes are taking place that represent a significant redefinition of the decisionmaking process and that suggests future changes in evaluation as a part of that process. These changes include new institutions that have resulted from Title XIV of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977—the Committee on Food and Renewable Resources, the Joint Council on Food and Agricultural Sciences, and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Users Advisory Board. Longstanding understandings among the Federal and State partners in the funding and provision of agricultural research are being questioned and renegotiated. The composition of that partnership is expanding to include a broader set of decisionmakers--those who are stakeholders in the outcomes of agricultural science and education. They include providers of funds, providers and users of agricultural science and education services, and people and institutions impacted by the food and agricultural sciences. The emerging framework for decisionmaking will mean that decisions about agricultural science must be informed both about the quality of agricultural research, extension, and teaching programs, and about their economic, social, and environmental impacts.