Overall Program Assessment - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 38

AFF subprograms was probably hindered by a lack of formal program goals with
measurable objectives.
Planning inputs in the form of stakeholder needs, partner aims, and informa-
tion on emerging issues and the effectiveness of practices and programs seem to
come largely from interaction and networking at conferences and symposia. In
addition, on the recommendation of the 1995 program review, NIOSH established
an internal NIOSH Agricultural Steering Committee (NASC) that included repre-
sentatives of all divisions engaged in the agricultural research program. The group
met annually and established research priorities; however, NASC did not manage
existing projects or approve new ones, so participation waned; there have been no
meetings since 2003. The history of the steering committee is cause for concern
because it is unclear whether the approach outlined for NORA 2 addresses the
supposed causes of the lack of effectiveness, that is, will the sector-based approach
give the director of the AFF Program adequate authority and resources to direct
the intramural and extramural research subprograms effectively?
Production Inputs
Production inputs include budget, staff, facilities, management structure, ex-
tramural entities, and partners. Over the period 1997-2006, the annual agriculture
budget averaged about $24 million (a total of $237,750,550 for 1997-2006). The
funds were distributed among Ag Centers (31 percent), intramural programs (44
percent), and other extramural programs (25 percent). Of the total research budget
for the 10-year period, about 57 percent ($136 million) was administered through
the Office of Extramural Programs (OEP) and directed toward goals in surveillance,
priority populations, health effects, control systems, health promotion, support,
and the Ag Centers. The remaining 44 percent was distributed among the various
divisions, laboratories, and offices performing agricultural research, including the
Division of Applied Research and Technology (DART), the Division of Respiratory
Disease Studies (DRDS), the Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and
Field Studies (DSHEFS), the Division of Safety Research (DSR), the Education
and Information Division (EID), the Health Effects Laboratory Division (HELD),
the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL), the Pittsburgh
Research Laboratory (PRL), and the Spokane Research Laboratory (SRL).
It is difficult to determine the total amount of funding directed specifically to
intervention research in the AFF Program because detailed funding information on
the Ag Centers was not provided. The lack of that information limits the effective-
ness of a review of the subprograms and hinders efforts to evaluate progress toward
goals. Apart from intervention research that occurs in the Ag Centers, cumulative
total funding for AFF intervention research appears to be around $16 million,