Bioenergy Research and Strategic Planning: The Need for Both Proactive and Reactive Research.

Public policy typically refers to governmental actions such as laws, regulatory measures, and funding decisions for a specified issue. As scientists, we should strive to provide unbiased research information on which strategic planning and long-term goals can be based. However, research can contribute to strategic planning conflicts if, for example, research is agenda driven or makes inferences beyond the scope of the data on components of larger problem areas. Research programs can be reactive or proactive relative to public policy issues. Reactive research is typically short-term (five years or less) and addresses existing problems whereas proactive research is long-term and forward-thinking and addresses potential future problems. The short-term nature of reactionary research is best-suited to problems that can be addressed by experiments within a typical five year funding period. The long-term nature of proactive research is best-suited to addressing issues such as crop development and sustainability. Both reactive and proactive research programs are mandatory to address the many facets of bioenergy strategic planning and specific examples will be reported.