To aid in the effort to define comprehensive long-range planning goals in bioregulation, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) asked the Board of Agriculture of the National Research Council to undertake a study of the ARS research programs concerned with bioregulation. (For the purposes of this study bioregulation was interpreted broadly to be basic studies of key processes in the biosciences). This document presents specific program objectives for long-term research in the areas of: (1) genetic engineering; (2) food animals (with references to disease, growth and metabolism, and development and reproduction); (3) crops (citing needs relating to carbon and nitrogen input, growth and development, and physicochemical stress); and (4) plant diseases and insect pests (including plant-pathogen interactions, biological control, insect neurobiology, and pesticides). In addition, an attempt is made to define an optimal climate for basic research to occur. Is is recommended that ARS implement a comprehensive program which would help create this climate for productive research. A list of ARS laboratory groups visited is appended. (TW)