ON THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL-RESEARCH IN THE UNITED-KINGDOM, 1945-1994 - A QUANTITATIVE DESCRIPTION AND APPRAISAL OF RECENT REFORMS

In this paper we review recent, radical changes in the structure and f unding of agricultural and food research in the United Kingdom. We ass emble data on the contributions of both public and private institution s during the past fifty years to put these changes in greater perspect ive. They are then explained by the interaction of proactive governmen tal policies for the agricultural and food industries, driven by exter nal considerations, with more reactive policies, motivated by problems particular to these industries. Essentially, the assumption that gove rnment intervention is required only when market incentives fail has d ictated that public funding should be reallocated from technology tran sfer activities, and 'productivity enhancing' and 'near market' resear ch, to 'basic' research, which affects a broader range of industries t han just the food and agriculture industries, and to 'public interest' research on pressing problems of food safety and environmental protec tion. We conclude that the much heralded notion of 'progress through p artnership' of the public and private sectors is not succeeding since the latter has not, taken up the research abandoned by the former. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.