7 U.S.C. § 3124a: Federal-State partnership and coordination

the Act of March 2, 1887 ( 7 U.S.C. 361a et seq.), commonly known as the Hatch Act of 1887; the Act of October 10, 1962 ( 16 U.S.C. 582a et seq.), commonly known as the McIntire-Stennis Act of 1962; subchapter V of this chapter; and subchapter VI of this chapter; extension programs under subchapter VI of this chapter and the Act of May 8, 1914 ( 7 U.S.C. 341 et seq.), commonly known as the Smith-Lever Act; the Act of July 2, 1862 ( 7 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), commonly known as the First Morrill Act; the Act of August 30, 1890 ( 7 U.S.C. 321 et seq.), commonly known as the Second Morrill Act; and the Act of June 29, 1935 ( 7 U.S.C. 329 ), commonly known as the Bankhead-Jones Act; and international agricultural programs under title XII of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 ( 22 U.S.C. 2220a et seq.). In order to promote research and education in food and human nutrition, the Secretary may establish cooperative human nutrition centers to focus resources, facilities, and scientific expertise on particular high priority nutrition problems identified by the Department. Such centers shall be established at State cooperative institutions; and at other colleges and universities, having a demonstrable capacity to carry out human nutrition research and education. to designate at least one State cooperative institution to conduct research in an interdisciplinary fashion; and to report on a regular basis with respect to the effect of emerging technological, economic, sociological, and environmental developments on the structure of agriculture. Support for this effort should include grants to examine the role of various food production, processing, and distribution systems that may primarily benefit small- and medium-sized family farms, such as diversified farm plans, energy, water, and soil conservation technologies, direct and cooperative marketing, production and processing cooperatives, and rural community resource management. To address more effectively the critical need for reducing farm input costs, improving soil, water, and energy conservation on farms and in rural areas, using sustainable agricultural methods, adopting alternative processing and marketing systems, and encouraging rural resources management, the Secretary is encouraged to designate at least one State agricultural experiment station and one Agricultural Research Service facility to examine these issues in an integrated and comprehensive manner, while conducting ongoing pilot projects contributing additional research through the Federal-State partnership. All meetings of any entity described in paragraph (3) shall be publicly announced in advance and shall be open to the public. Detailed minutes of meetings and other appropriate records of the activities of such an entity shall be kept and made available to the public on request. Chapter 10 of title 5 and title XVIII of this Act [ 7 U.S.C. 2281 et seq.] shall not apply to any entity described in paragraph (3). is created for the purpose of cooperative efforts in agricultural research, extension, or teaching; and full-time Federal employees; and a State cooperative institution or State cooperative agency; or a public college or university or other postsecondary institution.