This report represents an evaluation of the present public research program in Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics and an estimate of future needs in this field. The study, which began as an internal evaluation of the research program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, involved a succession of steps, requiring for their completion some 18 months of individual and joint effort on the part of the cooperating groups who were asked to participate in the revision of the original report. On March 15, 1956, a Committee on Research Evaluation was established within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. …the Committee was assigned the following duties: (1) To determine what our objectives should be to achieve and maintain a balanced, progressive, and prosperous agriculture for the benefit of farm people and the nation; (2) to determine what kind of a research program we should have to achieve these objectives; (3) to determine by critical and comprehensive review the extent to which current research fulfills these objectives, and (4) to recommend the specific changes required to bring the Department's research program in conformity with research objectives.
