In political circles, it has been claimed that U.S. grain surpluses indicate there is no need for research leading to further crop-yield increases. However, a good hard look at the whole agriculture scene does not substantiate that claim. Indeed, the worldwide situation demands rapid increases in productivity. Visualize a farmer in Costa Rica growing corn and beans interplanted together in a field smaller than a basketball court. This is probably his only field, and he must feed himself and his family as well as produce income (or barter) to purchase other needed items. Now visualize a farmer in the Corn Belt in the United States growing corn on a thousand acres of land. The primary apparent contrast is the level of technology--a hoe versus a large diesel tractor. The result is a pitifully small 2-to 3-bushel-per-acre corn yield achieved by the Costa Rican farmer compared with a 200-bushel-per-acre corn yield possible for the U.S. farmer. Contrary to appearances, technology is not the primary cause of this yield difference; the primary cause is the absence of cultivars tailored to the growing conditions on the Costa Rican farm. (A cultivar is a specific variety of a species that has been designed for agricultural use.) Worldwide agriculture productivity generally falls in between these two levels. Even in the United States, corn productivity ranges from 10 to 200 bushels, depending on the location and situation. To feed a hungry world, productivity differences in all crops need to be narrowed and shifted toward the high yield end. Recent innovations hold promise for helping to accomplish this narrowing and shifting.
Inexpensive energy and chemicals have contributed to the development of many wasteful practices in agriculture, such as excessive irrigation and heavy applications of fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides. However, since many of these practices are antithetical to the growing environmental concerns, increasing numbers of restrictions are being imposed on U.S. agriculture, with the implication that, if nothing is done, yields of U.S. agriculture will decline dramatically.
In response, universities and plant-breeding companies are increasing their development of cultivars and technologies that require fewer chemical inputs. Some of the potential technological innovations being considered to accomplish this involve intercropping different species, such as the beans and corn of the Costa Rican farmer. Unfortunately, the interrelationships between plants growing together in a field are complex, and too little is known of the specific requirements of this type of agriculture. If U.S. agriculture is to adopt the Costa Rican type of agriculture, dramatic advances in knowledge will be needed, and entirely new cultivars adapted to the new growing
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