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U.S. agriculture is facing perhaps its biggest
revolution
since industrialization, said experts at the National Symposium
on the Future of Agriculture in Athens Aug. 10-11.
“The future of agriculture is secure,” said Gale
Buchanan, dean and director of the University of Georgia College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
“What’s not secure,” he said, “is who will produce our
food and fiber, and where it will be produced.”
The second annual symposium brought together
researchers,
government officials and business leaders from around the
country. They addressed the prospects for the industry’s
future.
The symposium included a U.S. House of Representatives
field hearing to make an official statement for the
Congressional
Record. Rep. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), a member of the House
agriculture committee, chaired the hearing.
Change and Technology
Discussion at the symposium centered around structural
changes in the way U.S. agriculture does business and emerging
technology that will direct the future of the industry.
“We have the potential to profoundly redefine the role
of
U.S. agriculture,” Michael Boehlje, a Purdue University
researcher, told the audience. “We are already redefining the
science base for economic development through biotechnology.”
Boehje said U.S. farmers must grow more differentiated
crops and fewer commodities. “They also must provide
high-quality
products with less opportunity for contamination,” he said.
The greatest new markets for American farmers are far
from standard farm products, he said. Whether U.S. farmers focus
on growing cloned animals for therapeutic use, soybeans and
wheat
for nutriceuticals or corn-based raw materials for biodegradable
manufacturing, it’s clear that growing food will become less a
priority.
Biotech Nothing New
Biotechnology has helped make American farmers more
productive, environmentally careful and competitive. Yet many
global customers don’t view the advances so positively. The
opposition to biotechnology today is similar to that faced
earlier this century to hybridization and pasteurization.
“We need to continue moving in this direction,”
Chambliss
said. “The future will turn when we convince folks about the
value of biotechnology.”
Andy Paterson, a UGA geneticist in crop and soil
sciences, genetics and botany, reminded the audience that
biotechnology is nothing new.
“Transformation is the process of introducing a gene
into
an organism,” he said. “It’s been around since 1928.”
Genetically modified crops already are widely used. In
2000, modified agricultural products included 25 percent of the
U.S. corn acreage, 54 percent of soybeans and 61 percent of
cotton, as well as some tomatoes, potatoes, squash and
canola.
Precision and Positioning
Other emerging technologies that promise to make U.S.
farmers more productive are spatial technologies like precision
agriculture, global positioning and satellite mapping.
“We get excited about the potential, but the products
just aren’t what they could be, so adoption is slow,” said Craig
Kvein, a researcher at the National Environmentally Sound
Production Agriculture Laboratory (NESPAL) in Tifton, Ga.
“It’s a very tough time to be thinking about investing
in
new technology,” he said. “But we have to do it. The test is
knowing which ones to invest in.”
A 1999 U.S. Department of Agriculture survey of farmers’
use of computers showed the western United States is way ahead
of
the rest of the country with averages near 65 to 75 percent.
Several Southern states, including Georgia, are the lowest with
only 25 to 30 percent of farmers using computers.
What does it mean for the structure of agriculture?
“Eventually computer chips will be imbedded in
everything
we do,” said Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, a University of Missouri
economist.
“It will be with us in every part of our lives,” he
said.
“The rate of innovation is getting faster and the impact of it
more significant.”
