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OCR for page 42
4
Challenges Facing the
Research System
As U.S. agriculture continues its impressive record
of production and productivity, it also confronts a
number of troubling issues. Chief among them are
competitiveness in the United States and abroad and
the overall economic performance of the agricultural
and food sector, human health and well-being, and
naturalresources stewardship. In particular, competi-
tive and other pressures mustbe met or the agricultural
sector will contribute less than its full potential to the
nation's economic performance. Consumers in the
marketplace and the public, through the political proc-
ess, demand that the U.S. food system provides in-
creasingly nutritious and convenient foods without
raising prices. And public concern about the environ-
ment water quality; preservation of forest and wild-
life habitats; and the sustainability of current agricul-
tural, rangeland, and forestland production practices-
is leading to new conservation and regulatory policies.
Although the issues of competitiveness and eco-
nomic performance, human health and well-being,
and natural resources stewardship have always been
on agriculture's agenda, their growing magnitude,
coupled with the public's increasing concern about
them, gives each one a new urgency. This chapter
surveys these three issues. It is based on assessments
of research and development (R&D) needs andpriori-
ties that have been undertaken by the Board on Agri-
culture of the National Research Council, by institu-
tional components of the research system (see Appen-
dix D), and by professional societies.
COMPETITIVENESS AND ECONOMIC
PERFORMANCE
Competitiveness is the need to progressively re-
duce costs per unit of production while improving the
consistency, quality, and value of products; to expand
42
markets; and to add value to increase profitability (see
the box "Productivity"~. Although economic policy
plays a role in helping the nation's agricultural and
food sector be competitive, the key determinant of
national agricultural competitiveness is science and
technology through R&D.
In the United States, competitiveness is intensified
by three major trends:
1. Many countries, including some developed and
most developing nations, are gaining the capacity to
expand production or lower per-unit costs for agricul-
tural products.
2. Channels of trade are becoming progressively
more open, so that competitive prices and quality are
becoming more important.
3. To the extent that U.S. agriculture is coupled
with sufficient R&D, it has the continuing capacity to
strengthen the United States economically~oth to
reduce the budget and trade deficits, and to improve
the U.S. balance of trade.
The competitiveness and the economic per-
formance of the U.S. agricultural and food sector are
discussed in this chapter in two broad contexts, each of
which is of major importance: (1) sustaining and ex-
panding international agricultural trade and markets,
and (2) ensuring strong national economic perfor-
mance from agriculture.
International Agricultural Trade and Markets
The 1970s were characterized by explosive growth
in agricultural trade. The United States was a major
participant in and beneficiary of that growth. The
1980s have been characterized by stagnant or declin-
ing trade, and U.S. agriculture has suffered. The
OCR for page 43
CHALLENGES FACING THE RESEARCH SYSTEM
43
Productivity
Productivity, as defined by economists, differs significantly from production, as defined by physical scien-
tists or economists. The harvested yield of corn from an acre of land, for example, is a measure of the
production from that acre (whether measured in dollars [output times price] or in physical units [bushels,
pounds, kilograms]~. Production, as a measure of the output harvested or obtained from a unit area (or
geographic region) orfrom a single animal or a given herd, is relatively one-dimensional. In contrast, the pro-
ductiv~y of a certain unit areaof land or of certain animals is a multidimensional measure, expressed as a ratio.
It measures the combined monetary value of all outputs from a production activity (grain, stover, meat,
manure) in relation to the total monetary costs of conducting the activities (all cash production costs, land
rental, depreciation, interest, etc.~.
In the short term, there can be too much production, but there can never be too much productivity. When
production exceeds demand, surplus stocks tend to build, crop prices fall (lowering measures of productiv-
ity), and the cost of government farm programs tends to grow. But increased productivity, after correction for
confounding factors like policy changes, generally results from real reductions in the cost of producing food
and fiber products. Gains in productivity benefit society by making products available at lower costs to the
consumer than would otherwise be the case, at a higher profit to the producer or processor, or both.
In the 1 980s U.S. agriculture suffered from too much production, largely because global demand declined
(in response to macroeconomic adjustments and a worldwide recession). As a result, crop and land values
fell and farmers tried to cut production costs in a variety of ways. Many farmers succeeded in reducing costs
and are now operating more efficiently, i.e., more productively. Over the long term, their productivity will also
rise, and higher profits should result.
L I
experience of the last two decades underlies three
major trends that have and will continue to provide the
context within which U.S. agriculture operates: (1)
the U.S. agricultural economy is becoming interna-
tionalized and integrated into the world agricultural
economy; (2) the U.S. agricultural sector and other
sectors of the national and international economies are
increasingly interdependent; and (3) domestic and
international markets are increasingly unstable.
Increased internationalization, interdependence,
and instability have had major effects on the economic
performance of U.S. producers and processors and on
the nation's economic condition. They are closely
linked and require joint treatment if U.S. agriculture is
to adjust and thrive in the global economy (Experi-
ment Station Committee on Organization and Policy,
1984, U.S. General Accounting Office, 1987~.
Policy Context
U.S. agriculture became irreversibly intemational-
ized in the 1970s as the sector expanded its exports to
world markets at unprecedented rates. The foreign
exchange earned by the agricultural trade surplus paid
for imports of petroleum, raw materials, and consumer
goods. In the 1980s, this was reversed. Agricultural
exports and farm prices declined substantially, caus
ing serious problems and loss of income for U.S.
agriculture. Falling prices, rising stocks, and bank-
ruptcies caused government expenditures for farm
programs to increase sharply. Concurrently, imports
of various commodities and foods have significantly
increased in recent years, and much imported produce
is now competing with domestic produce.
Integration into the global economy means that
foreign markets are now centrally important to U.S.
agriculture and that its economic health depends on
continued strong export demand.
Changes in international demand for U.S. agricul-
tural products result from many variables: growth in
income and demand in developing countries, lagging
production in many areas of Africa and Asia, changes
in policy in centrally planned economies, changes in
currency values, and policies of major foreign com-
petitors. As more countries compete in agricultural
trade and as the volumes of trade have risen, interna-
tional markets have become more complex. Thus,
understanding the international dimensions of agri-
cultural development and trade are essential if U.S.
agriculture is to thrive. For example, detailed knowl-
edge of future growth in demand and of its implica-
tions for agricultural imports and exports is key to
establishing a national strategy for agricultural ex-
ports.
OCR for page 44
44
Integration of the agricultural sector into the inter
national economy and the sector's greater reliance on
the nonagricultural sector for inputs and markets mean
that agriculture (and policies specific to it) is less in
control of its own destiny than at any time in the past.
This interdependence between the agricultural sector
and other sectors of the U.S. economy is illustrated by
the export of major commodities, such as wheat, corn,
and soybeans, that make strongly positive contabu
tions to the U.S. balance of trade. Conversely, for
livestock product~lamb, pork, beef, and dairy prod
ucts-the United States is a net importer. Reversing
this negative balance for livestock products should be
a major target of innovation and technology develop
meet, which is dependent on strong R&D investment.
Agriculture is becoming more dependent on other
sectors of the economy at the same time it is becoming
(as a percentage) a decreasing albeit still very im
portant part of the overall U.S. economy. This
increased interdependence makes it important to
conduct research that gives a clearer understanding of Issues
the broader environment of U.S. agriculture: its long
term comparative advantage, the variables influenc
ing its competitiveness, and the effects of macroeco
. . ~
nomlc po 1cles.
Domestic and international markets are also in
creasingly unstable. This derives from normal bio
logical or physical events and from policy instability
that, in turn, results from domestic interventions. This
instability is illustrated by the changes in U.S. agricul
tural exports from the 1970s to the 1980s, as described
above. There are several important causes for this: the
global recession in the 1980s following growth in the
1970s, entry into the international market of countries
previously not involved in it (such as the Soviet Union
in 1972 and 1973), creation oftrade barriers to insulate
domestic economies from international conditions,
and monetary instability. Responding to instability
within the context of internationalization and interde
pendency requires, at a minimum, a better understand
ing of the agricultural conditions inside other coun
tries so that U.S . agricultural policy can adjust to those
conditions. This ensures that economic policies
such as tariffs, trade barriers, support mechanisms,
and money supply and value-can be evaluated in
relation to the desired vitality of the agricultural sec
tor.
Thus, policies cannot be pursued in isolation but
must be seen in context. International negotiations
under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GAIT), for example, require that domestic policies
INVESTING IN RESE - CH
be discussed in an international forum. On the domes-
tic front, expenditures to stabilize farm income, which
are valuable in the short term, may have a major effect
on the long-term performance of agriculture because,
with a fixed budget, as at present, such expenses
preclude long-term investments in R&D that have
traditionally ensured a strong economic future. The
rise of support and stabilization payments from $3.5
billion in 1980 to $29.6 billion in 1986 left little room
for real increases in the U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture's [USDA's] R&D budget.)
Therefore, considering the three trends toward
internationalization, interdependence, and instability,
it is important to address competitiveness and eco-
nomic performance in a much broader international
and national economic context than has traditionally
been the case for individual commodity programs.
Some have argued that U.S. agriculture has lost its
inherent competitiveness. The more optimistic, and
probably more realistic, view is that U.S. agriculture
is, inherently, still highly competitive globally but that
monetary policy and the continuously changing value
of the dollar are masking that competitiveness and that
inward-looking domestic policies in other countries
are distorting international markets.
Three issues are central to sustained competitive-
ness and economic performance: (1) evaluating the
competitive position of U.S. agriculture in terms of
long-term comparative advantage; (2) recognizing
that adding value to commodities and products is a key
to competitiveness, as rising incomes shift patterns of
domestic and international demand (the need to add
value puts a premium on success in technological
innovation and application); and (3) understanding
that macroeconomic policies, probably well outside
the agricultural sector, have a major effect on the
vitality of agriculture.
First, international competitiveness needs to be
viewed as a matter of comparative advantage over the
long term, not just as a short-tenn issue based on
current prices and short-term policies. For example,
the traditional advantage of the United States has been
its bounteous endowment of high~uality farmland,
coupled with early advantages from the use of petro-
leum for power and as a base for agrichemicals, early
technological innovativeness, and a highly effective
R&D system for agriculture end food. Now, however,
OCR for page 45
CHALLENGES FACING THE RESEARCH SYSTEM
much of that advantage has disappeared or is disap-
pearing: petroleum-powered equipment and agri-
chemicals are used throughout the world, energy prices
are no longer advantageously low in the United States,
technological innovation is now international, and
although the U.S. agricultural sector has been effec-
tive at exploiting technologies that use the land, it has
not been nearly so good at adding value to agricultural
products. But innovation and technological develop-
ment can continue to give the United States major
advantages for the major crops it produces efficiently
as well as for crops that are more specialized. In fact,
investment in agricultural and food R&D is especially
important for U.S. competitiveness because other
nations are continuing to expand their national com-
mitments to agricultural R&D, whereas the United
States and some other countries are not. (Global
trends in research expenditures have been assessed in
a speech by William R. Furtick, Director for Food and
Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Develop-
ment, entitled "International Dimension for the U.S.
Agricultural Research Agenda" Justice, 19891. A
comprehensive data set on research investments around
the world has been prepared by Pardey and Roseboom
[19891.)
Second, in some countries value-added exports are
as high as 74 percent of total agricultural exports,
whereas in the United States they are only about 30
percent. For comparative advantage in adding value,
research and technology development and application
are essential. The United States has been deficient in
these areas in recent years, however. Will agriculture
continue to be deficient relative to the innovation-
oriented advances other countries are making?
For research to be used as a tool to strengthen
international competitiveness and help make U.S.
agriculture successful in the global market, two diver-
gent trends must be reconciled, or at least understood.
First, a global information network is now coupled
with an increasing technological and innovative ca-
pacity throughout the world, and it is less possible than
it once was to establish a market niche simply through
production efficiency. Furthermore, market advan-
tages resulting from superior technology are more
difficult to establish because the innovation derived
from knowledge that is available to all is now within
the reach of all countries. The second trend is the
private sector's increased investment in proprietary
research, which attempts to keep results out of the
public domain. This privatization now makes tech-
nology a private good that one purchases as an input,
45
rather than a public good available as knowledge
usable by all.
The third issue central to competitiveness and
economic performance is that a variety of macroeco-
nomic policy issues affect agricultural trade: mone-
lary policy, the value of national currencies, monetary
instability, and trade and tariff agreements.
In research terms, competitiveness in international
agricultural trade faces some of the following chal-
lenges:
· narrowing the nation's trade deficit by improv-
ing export competitiveness and expanding export de-
mand;
· stimulating global economic and trade growth,
including a reduction in trade barriers;
· reconciling national agricultural policies with
the international mix of agricultural policies, thereby
establishing the strategy of flexibility in setting poli-
c~es;
· assessing the effect that changes in economic and
technical factors and in resource endowments have on
import demand, availability of export supplies, and
comparative advantage in agricultural production;
identifying and analyzing monetary linkages
among countries; assessing the implications of mone-
tary phenomena for trade flows; and understanding
the functioning of financial, commodity, and interna-
tional capital markets;
· understanding the trade-offs and linkages be-
tween domestic agricultural and trade policies and
removing distorting policies;
· assessing and evaluating trade and the implica-
tions of restrictive trade policies and practices in terms
of who gains and who loses;
· identifying the characteristics of international
markets that discourage or encourage U.S. entry into
them;
· identifying economic and technological strate-
gies for entering and staying in international markets;
and
developing cost-effective technological and man-
agement strategies for allaying potentially detrimen-
tal trade effects resulting from the quality of U.S.
exports.
National Economic Performance
Inasmuch as agriculture has become international-
ized and is dependent on other sectors, it does not stand
alone as a sector of the national economy. It is a
OCR for page 46
46
demand-driven industry, both in its sales through
international trade and in the types and amounts of
value-added products it supplies domestic consumers.
The future vitality of U.S. agriculture will depend
partly on its international competitiveness and per-
formance and partly on domestic performance and
demands.
Domestically, both increasing household income
and changing demographic patterns such as the
increasing proportion of two-employee households,
the increasing use of convenience foods, and changing
ethnic food preferences (National Research Council,
1988a~will affect purchases in major ways. In ad-
dition, social and environmental constraints, such as
concerns for food safety and environmental quality,
will affect the economic performance of agriculture.
There are four areas that affect national economic
performance, that are the responsibility of the U.S.
agricultural industry itself, and that have immediate
implications for agricultural R&D: (1) the effects of
policy, (2) developing new uses and markets, (3)
developing value-added products, and (4) reducing
producer and processor costs.
Needing and Using Policy
Government programs and policies are a major
influence on the performance of the agricultural, food,
and environmental system. As noted above in the
discussion on international markets and trade, major
changes in monetary, trade, and technology policies
have complicated U.S. agriculture; thesepolicy issues
apply domestically as well. For example, in the 1980s
the direct annual cost of government farm programs
and policies to the U.S. Treasury and the indirect costs
to producers and the private sector of the economy
reached unprecedented proportions. The need for
policy reform was recognized in the early 1980s, and
several major policy changes were incorporated into
the 1985 omnibus 5-year farm bill (the Food Security
Act of 1985~. A consensus is growing that additional
policy reform will be needed to allow U.S. agriculture
to take greater advantage of its inherent strengths in
natural resources, human talent, technology, and
marketing.
Developing New Uses and Markets for Agricultural
and Forest Products
The production capacity of U.S. agriculture and
forestry is strong. It is therefore reasonable to look to
I - ESTINC IN RESEARCH
that capacity to produce more goods for the country.
Such a strategy would use a national resource-agri-
culture and its land base as national assets. But
doing so requires the development of new products
and markets, which requires R&D of a type and
amount that has not been done in the past. For
example, biotechnology promises to produce more
disease-resistant plants, and computer systems and
biosensors promise to bring about greater production
efficiency to the food processing industry and a higher
quality of food. More specifically, biodegradable
plastics should be developed more readily, and the use
of ethanol as a viable oxygenated fuel should be
brought closer to economic reality. This would be of
major economic value for agriculture (additional profit
centers and reduction in surplus commodities) and
would meet major environmental objectives (less solid
waste and cleaner air).
Another approach would be to shift to new or
different crops that could be of value. A recent
example is the use of oil from rapeseed. Rapeseed oil
has major health and nutrient advantages because of
its high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, permit-
ting it to be substituted for the traditional, more highly
hydrogenated oils. Development of varieties of rape-
seed that can be produced on large acreages in the
United States will provide a new production opportu-
nity to U.S. producers and be a boon to consumers
seeking healthier dietary patterns.
Developing Value-Added Products
The value of the entire agricultural and food enter-
prise is about 18 percent of the nation's gross national
product(GNP) (Harringtonetal., 1986~. Thus,adding
value to agricultural products can have a significant
effect on a major sector of the economy. Although the
production sector is only about 2 percent of GNP,
adding value would have a major positive effect on
producers because the value-added component would
expand the demand for high-quality agricultural prod-
ucts. Adding value would likely have major benefits
for the consumer as well.
Product diversification, new processes, and con-
venience packaging are all value-added activities that
respond to changing consumer demands in a society
that, domestically and internationally, is increasingly
affluent. For example, the California almond industry
has recently focused on adding value to its crop
through new products and has gained major new
OCR for page 47
CHALI FNGES FACING THE RESEARCH SYSTEM
markets, bringing economic success for all parts of the
almond industry.
The changing patterns of public and private tech-
nology development present complications for decid-
ing the best approach to take. Addressing the problem
seems straightforward: capitalize on the large reser-
voir of U.S. scientific and engineering talent and
knowledge and then develop innovative technologies
before others do. Selecting the most advantageous
products and processes is more difficult, however.
One illustrative possibility is the packaging of seeds in
a fundamentally new way: Use breakthroughs in
molecular and cellular genetics and tissue culture to
create new plants; package the seeds or viable tissues
from them with nutrients and selective pesticides into
discrete, stable, and transportable biological systems;
and then plant them in the usual manner. The science
and technologies are becoming available for such a
project, and it would give growers a major technologi-
cal advantage.
Reducing Producer and Processor Costs
In addition to changes in policies for international
trade and new uses, new crops, and value-added prod-
ucts, other changes must also be made if new R&D for
the agricultural, food, and environmental sector is to
be of maximum value for economic performance.
New ways of doing business have the potential to
reduce costs and make production systems more effi-
cient. Specifically, better use must be made of infor-
mation, resistance to change must be overcome, de-
velopment should pass expeditiously into application,
and societal and environmental constraints must be
addressed.
Making better use of information will be especially
important as the agricultural and food production
systems become more dependent on more detailed and
sophisticated knowledge and as the requirements of
production systems increase. The use of expert deci-
sionmaking systems for insect and disease manage-
ment is one example, since pest control is based on a
multifaceted integrated system. Another example is
on-farm systems for making investment and expendi-
ture decisions based on economic trends. In the
political arena, information will be increasingly im-
portant in making rational resource allocation deci-
sions that balance farmland preservation, urban ex-
pansion, amenity values, and public infrastructure
investments in the face of inexorable population pres-
sures in metropolitan areas.
47
Information is crucial for simultaneously main-
taining farm profitability and meeting environmental
conservation goals, such as preservation and steward-
ship of natural resources and sustaining the quality of
soil and water systems for agriculture. Also needed
are new analytical tools for monitoring plant and
animal growth and health, determining cost-effective
Inputs tor optimum growth, determining cost-effec-
tive agrichemical inputs, and minimizing plant and
animal disease.
Overcoming resistance to change, like making
better use of information, is likely to become more, not
less, important. Change will permit producers and
processors to be competitive with change-oriented
foreign competitors. Willingness to change will be
particularly important for the public given the pub
lic's wariness of technological effects and its ambiva-
lence toward new technologies-as R&D develops
more production systems based on the results of the
newer biological and technological advances. Ex-
amples include recombinant DNA technologies for
improved plants and animals and automation and
technological systems that make it possible to replace
more labor with equipment. Willingness to change
will be important for government, as permits, product
approvals, and regulatory guidelines are developed
and applied to new products and uses. Overcoming
resistance to change, or at least dealing with it in an
informed way, will be essential for U.S. agricultural
competitiveness and economic performance.
Economic advantage also depends on being able to
pass expeditiously from development into application
with new products and processes. Much economic
advantage is associated with securing market position
rapidly; indeed, some businesses believe that product
development and market position are substantially
more important than patentprotection. A recentreport
of the National Academy of Engineering (1989) high-
lighted this need:
Recent U.S. industrial performance in global competition dem-
onstrates clearly that other nations often do a better job of using
both product and process technology for competitive advantage.
The United States may be the world's greatest inventor nation, but
other nations are now often better at applying technology, better at
product and process engineering.
Dealing with societal and environmental constraints
as part of the normal production process is also essen-
tial for optimal performance. For example, polluting
production practices- such as the use of natural and
OCR for page 48
48
chemical fertilizers that leach into groundwater sup-
plies and pesticides that contaminate environments
and produce-are increasingly identified for regula-
tory or remedial action. Eliminating such practices,
for example, by using sustainable agricultural sys-
tems, reduces direct costs to producers and indirect
costs and concern to consumers. Such changes will
come about, however, only when physical, biological,
and social R&D is sufficient so that the form and
effects of the optimal systems can be known with
precision and farmers can make informed judgments.
Challenges
The economic performance of the nation's agricul-
tural and food sectors depends on overcoming a vari-
ety of challenges:
· determining the optimal strategies for securing
comparative advantage through value-added ap-
proaches using science and technology;
understanding the biological and physical prop-
erties of plants and animals that are most advanta-
geously manipulated, so that economically useful new
uses of major crops can be developed and additional
nutrient qualities can be designed into foods;
· establishing a national strategy for proceeding
from a commodity-based to a value-added agricul-
tural and food sector;
raising per-capita income among farmers and
lessening their reliance on government payments;
creating jobs, particularly in export-oriented,
value-added industries;
understanding personal and societal resistance to
change so that a more efficacious system can be
established for utilizing new information and technol-
ogy;
developing management skills and practices for
reducing costs in both the producing and the process-
ing sectors;
· developing effective R&D systems that acceler-
ate the conversion of science and engineering results
into practicable use; and
ensuring an optimal delivery system for applying
knowledge and technologies.
HUMAN HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
The health of U.S. citizens depends on the quality
and quantity of the U.S. food supply and on the food
choices people make. In turn, the ability to create
I^ESTING IN RESEARCH
more nutritious food largely depends on R&D in
nutrition, food science and technology, and related
health disciplines. Scientists must also find ways of
inculcating optimal dietary habits.
Given the strong relationship between nutrition
and health, improving the diet of Americans is clearly
a top priority for producers, food processors, and
consumers. For example, a January 1989 survey of
more than 1,000 shoppers revealed that 94 percent
were "somewhat concemed" or "very concerned"
about the nutritional content of the foods they eat
(Food Marketing Institute, 1989~. The top concerns
were about fat, salt, cholesterol, vitamins, minerals,
and sugar. Given this concern about nutrition by so
many people, it is ironic that poor health and disease
in millions of Americans can often be traced to inap-
propriate dietary patterns, including excessive or in-
adequate consumption of particular macronutrients,
minerals, vitamins, or dietary fiber (see Table 4.1~.
For example, increased energy intake, decreased energy
expenditure leading to obesity, or both can be a severe
problem, especially among certain segments of the
population. Moreover, although the overall quality of
the U.S. food supply is high, pesticide and microbio-
logical contamination may occasionally pose risks to
some consumers.
Designing Food Products for Improved Health
The nutritional and food sciences have made great
strides in identifying some dietary risk factors for
certain diseases (see Table 4.1) and in developing
nutritionally improved food products. Still, the com-
plex interplay among life-styles, human behavior, and
changing patterns of food consumption makes it diffi-
cult to engineer adequate nutritional levels for all
Americans into the food supply. Few people now
consume too little protein or vitamin C, yet many
continue to consume too many calories and too many
saturated fats.
In certain respects, however, diets have improved
somewhat during the 1980s. Table 4.2 shows the
percentage of selected population groups that met
nutritional targets in 1985. Among adult women,
between 1977-1978 and 1985, the percentage of calo-
nes in the diet from fat declined from about41 percent,
on average, to 37 percent (see Tables 34 and 3-5 in
National Research Council, 1988a). The percentage
of people consuming less than 30 percent of their
calories in the form of fat the maximum level of fat
consumption recommended by government agencies
OCR for page 49
CHALLENGES FACING THE RESEARCH SYSTEM
TABLE 4.1 Ten Leading Causes of Death in the United States, 1987
Percentage
of Total
Rank Cause of Death Number Death
la Heart disease759,40035.7
Coronary511,70024.1
Other247,70011.6
2a Cancer76,70022.4
3a Stroke148,7007.0
46 Unintentional injury92,5004.4
Motor vehicle46,8002.2
All others45,7002.2
5 Chronic obstructive lung disease78,0003.7
6 Pneumonia and influenza68,6003.2
7a Diabetes mellitus37,8001.8
8b Suicide29,6001.4
9b Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis26,0001.2
lea Atherosclerosis23,1001.1
All causes2,125,100100.0
aCause of death in which diet plays a part.
bCause of death in which excessive alcohol consumption plays a part.
SOURCE: Estimates adapted from the National Center for Health Statistics. 1988. Monthly Vital Statistics Report,
Vol. 37, No. 1, April 25. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Health Staiisucs.
end private medical associations increased from be
tween 5 and 10 percent to between 12 and 15 percent
in most age groups (see Tables 3-3 and 34 in National
Research Council, 1988a).
Other dietary challenges remain, however, as illus-
trated by the problems of calcium and iron deficien-
cies. Calcium is important for normal body metal
lism and is particularly important in the bone develop-
ment of children; it is also important for the achieve-
ment of peak bone mass in adults to decrease the risk
of osteoporosis. Currently, however, 25 percent of
children aged 1 to 8, 58 percent of adult women, and
32 percent of adult males consume 70 percent or less
of their 1980 recommended dietary allowance (RDA)
of calcium (see Table 3.12 in National Research
Council, l98Sa).
Iron deficiency can reduce a person ' s energy, impair
the immune response, and in children, reduce intellec-
tual performance and development (Federation of
49
American Societies for Experimental Biology, Life
Sciences Research Office, 1984~. Currently, how-
ever,44 percept ofchildren aged 1 to ~ and 56 percept
of adult women consume 70 percent or less of the
1980 RDA for iron (see Table 3-17 in National Re-
search Council, 198Sa).
The examples of calcium and iron demonstrate the
dual problem facing those who seek to modify the diet
of the average American: Consumption of fat, choles-
terol, and sodium should fall, whereas consumption of
iron, calcium, and certain other vitamins and minerals
often need to increase. Trade-offs would seem neces-
sary because many animal food products are both pelt
of the problem (high in fat and cholesterol) and part of
the solution (high in calcium and available iron).
However, in recent years the emergence of leaner cuts
of meat and of many low- and nonfat dairy products
has given consumers valuable new options for reduc-
ing their intake of fat and cholesterol while still getting
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so
INVESTING IN RESEARCH
TABLE 4.2 Percentage of Population Groups Meeting Nutritional Goals, Based on the 1984-1985 USDA
Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individualsa
Percent Making Goal for
Fat Cholesterol Calcium Iron
Population Group (Goal, < 30% of (Goal, < 300 (Goal, RDAs (Goal, RDAs
and Age calones) mg/day) by age group) by age group)
Children
(ages 1-5) 156 776 48 38
Women
19-34 13 62 NA NA
35-50 12 62 NA NA
All (ages 19-50) 12 62 19C 18c
NOTE: NA, Data not available.
aCalculations are based on 1980 RDAs. The figure for women meeting 70 percent of the 1989 RDA for iron will be slightly greater because
of the decrease in that RDA.
To ensure good growth in the early years of life, some authorities consider it inadvisable for children less than 2 years of age to limit fat intake
to less than or equal to 30 percent of total calories. Furthermore, the desirable cholesterol intake for children less than 2 years of age has not
yet been established.
CCalcium and iron data reported for children aged 1 to 8 and for waned aged 19 to 64.
SOURCE: Calorie data are from Table 3-3, cholesterol data are from Table 3-11, calcium data are from Table 3-12, and iron data are from
Table 3-17 in National Research Council. 1988a. Designing Foods: Animal Product Options in the Marketplace. Washington, D.C.:
National Academy Press.
an adequate daily allowance of essential vitamins and
minerals (for a thorough discussion of the subject, see
National Research Council, 1988a, 1989b).
Challenges
While Americans are still advised to consume a
variety of wholesome foods in moderation, there are
also significant research challenges:
· determining the optimal period of time during
which diets should be balanced with respect to indi-
vidual nutrients;
developing ways to identify and quantify dietary
patterns over long periods as a basis for epidemiologi-
cal understanding of the connection between cancer
and other diseases and diet;
developing technologies to improve foods and
incentives to improve dietary patterns so they are
adequate for long-term maintenance of good health;
continuing to expand the nutrient data base of
food composition and nutrient bioavailability for the
food supply;
continuing nutrition monitoring, with renewed
emphasis on populations for whom little data are
available (e.g., the elderly); and
establishing agency authority for ensuring the
quality of the food supply.
Food Safety
Product safety is considered a "very important" or
"somewhat important" factor in food selection, as
indicated by 90 percent of the respondents in a 1989
survey of 1,000 shoppers referred to above (Food
Marketing Institute, 1989~. Although this concern is
appropriate, it is difficult for the public to evaluate
risks. In some cases, even when risks are exception-
ally low, public concern, is difficult to allay once it is
aroused. Private industry is challenged to develop
improved quality control processes; and government
inspectors and regulators need more convenient, sen
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CHALLENGES FACING THE RESEARCH SYSTEM
sitive, and timely tools and methods for monitoring
and protecting the safety of the food supply.
The food safety agenda is dynamic, pushing hard at
the borders of scientific detection, risk assessment,
and risk management. Decisionmakers and reaula-
tory scientists must call upon a wide range of scientific
skills in defining safe, acceptable levels of pathogenic
organisms, toxins, and chemical residues in food
products and in determining how best to keep risks at
or below safe levels. Fortunately, rapid scientific
advances are making the task more manageable. For
example, it is now more frequently possible to detect,
trace, and avoid circumstances that lead to potentially
hazardous levels of pesticide and drug residues in food
or water. In addition, a powerful new biotechnology
technique-the genetic fingerprinting of strains of
bacteria and viruses- gives scientists a major new
tool to use in foodborne disease outbreaks. With that
tool, the sources of illnesses increasingly can be traced
to a particular food manufacturing plant or even to a
particular producer. Epidemiologists then have a
much more realistic opportunity to recognize where
and how to intervene to improve food safety.
Three issues are of major concern: pesticide resi-
dues, microbiological contamination, and risk assess-
ment and management.
Pesticide Residues
Even though nonchemical methods of pest control
(through expansion of sustainable agriculture and
integrated pest management systems) will be use
increasingly, residues of chemical pesticides will
continue to be a major concern for the indefinite
future.
These challenges are growing more urgent and
complex for several reasons. First, new toxicological
data on several dozen older pesticides are emerging
and, in some cases, are raising the estimates and
perceptions of risk. Second, as analytical methods of
detection improve and as government agencies and
the private sector monitor pesticides more intensively,
pesticide residues are being detected with an increas-
ing frequency in food and water, usually at very low
levels. Third, risk assessment methods are beginning
to take into account unique risk factors in certain
population groups that may be more heavily exposed
or susceptible to toxic agents-pregnant women, the
young, the elderly, members of certain ethnic groups,
farm workers, and people who have impaired immune
responses or who are undergoing chemotherapy.
51
Challenges
· improving methods for estimating dietary risk
from pesticide residues and pathogens;
· developing furtherincentives throughout the food
system from growers to marketers- for ensuring
that pesticide residues and microbiological contami-
nation are eliminated from the food supply;
· developinginstitutions end mechanisms that will
provide a good understanding of the risks pertaining to
the food supply;
· accelerating and intensifying the search for and
development of nonchemical pest control methods,
including the use of endogenous pesticides produced
by the plants themselves, with the necessary genes
obtained through classical breeding or recombinant
DNA methods; and
· being able to communicate the concept of rela-
tive risk effectively to government officials and con-
sumers so that informed choices can be made.
Microbiological Contamination
More than 50 percent of the 2,666 outbreaks of
foodborne disease reported to the Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1968 to 1977 were
attributed to meat and poultry contamination alone
(Bryan, 1980~. However, the reported data are likely
to represent only a small fraction of the true incidence
of foodborne disease in the United States (Hauschild
and Bryan, 1980; National Research Council, 1969~.
When a contaminated food product is widely distrib-
uted and eaten at different times and places, outbreaks
may be difficult to detect. This is particularly true of
diseases for which there is no epidemiological marker,
so that strains recovered from infected individuals and
from foods cannot be compared.
Pasteurized foods may still harbor spores that can
germinate and multiply if pasteurization is insuffi-
cient. Certain pathogens, such as Salmonella species,
Campylobacter jejuni, and Clostridium perfringens,
are spread to carcasses and cuts of meat or to parts of
poultry from infected tissues or contaminated surfaces
of animals during slaughtering and processing. The
microorganisms are then conveyed through addition-
ally processed raw meat and poultry into food-service
establishments end homes. Cross-contamination may
continue and other foods may become contaminated
during food preparation in home kitchens. The inap-
propriate use of newer methods of food preparation
(i.e., microwave cooking) may also create problems;
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52
for example, cooking times may be insufficient to
deactivate foodborne pathogens.
With additional research, new technologies (some
derived from biotechnology) can be applied to meat
and poultry inspections and to surveillance of the food
supply in general. These approaches give a means of
identifying infectious agents with a high specificity
that was not possible 5 to 10 years ago. Areas of
investigation and application in biotechnology in-
clude recombinant DNA technology, monoclonal
antibody technologies, and enzyme-linked immuno-
sorbent assays.
Challenges
improving the epidemiological and monitoring
programs so that foodborne diseases and outbreaks
can be traced;
improving the detection systems for microbially
contaminated foods, particularly meat and poultry
products; and
· increasing the quality and performance of the
analytical methods forrisk assessment end policies for
risk management.
Risk Assessment and Management
During the past two to three decades, the concerns
of the public health and environmental communities
have shifted dramatically, as have thepublic'spercep-
tion and understanding of the relative importance of
various types of threats to its health and safety. The
political reaction to research results and to the public 's
heightened awareness has led to legislation on food
and drugs, occupational safety and health, and the
environment.
Regulatory actions are based on two processes:
risk assessment and risk management. In risk assess-
ment, the probability of potentially adverse health
effects from exposure to hazards is assessed. In risk
management, alternative regulatory and other actions
are evaluated and a selection is made from among
them, guided by risk assessment information and
other considerations (National Research Council,
1983b).
A variety of scientific questions must be answered
in risk assessments: Does the agent have an adverse
effect? What is the relationship between dose and
response? What exposures are currently experienced
or expected under different conditions? What is the
estimated incidence of the adverse effect in a given
population?
INVESTING IN RESEARCH
Because of the current state of knowledge, risks
projected by regulatory agencies may be derived by
methods for which there is a limited means of valida-
tion. In addition, current methods of collecting infor-
mation about harmful effects often rely upon postu-
lated levels of exposure, sometimes under conditions
that do not match and may be far in excess of actual
environmental exposures (International Life Sciences
Institute, 1987~.
Challenges
· developing additional and more exact methods
for evaluating risks; examples include methods to test
for mutagenicity and teratogenicity using model
organisms,and enzymatic models and methods when
the modes of action of an agent are specifically known;
· examining every facet of the agricultural, food,
and environmental system to determine the most ef-
fective points of intervention to remove risks from the
system;
· developing ways of removing the risk from the
presence of harmful chemicals in food; and
· developing substantially more effective and
timely systems for communicating actual and relative
risks to those in government and industry and to the
public.
NATURAL RESOURCES STEWARDSHIP
Natural resources include the living as well as
nonliving components of the environment. Natural
resources stewardship is the responsible and prudent
caring for natural resources by the people and agen-
cies, public and private, whose actions affect those
resources directly or indirectly. Implicit in natural
resources stewardship is the belief that the resources
must be sustained and enhanced for the benefit of
future generations.
Environmental protection by responsibly caring
for natural resources is an increasingly critical eco-
nomic and cultural consideration in agriculture, for-
estry, and other land management systems and prac-
tices. The ways in which farmers, ranchers, foresters,
and other public and private landowners use and
manage soil, water, wildlife, croplands, forestlands,
rangelands, wetlands, parks, wildlife, and landscapes
increasingly affect natural resources stewardship.
The effects of agriculture and forestry on steward-
ship vary enormously across the landscapes of the
United States. On much of the nation's agricultural
lands, rangelands, forestlands, and parklands, effec
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CHALI~NCES FACING THE RESEARCH SYSTEM
live resource conservation systems are commonly
used. These systems sustain site productivity, control
soil erosion, conserve water, improve recreational
potential, and enhance wildlife habitats. In many
areas of the country, however, intensity of use is
greater than the carrying capacity of the land; the same
land, water, wildlife, and recreational resources are
claimed for competing uses; long-term sustainability
conflicts with short-term profitability; and external
effects such as those of farming practices on water
quality, amenity values, or wildlife populations are
not always adequately considered. Identifying and
understanding these effects and conflicts and develop-
ing improved natural resource conservation and
management systems and technologies to deal with
them are key goals of natural resources stewardship.
Some of the scientific and management challenges in
natural resources stewardship are discussed below.
Water Quality and Quantity
Water is becoming a top resource management
priority, likely taking precedence over soil erosion in
the decades ahead.
The agricultural sector is the largest user of the
water resources of the nation, using 104 million acre-
feet per year for irrigated agriculture and 2.5 million
acre-feet per year for livestock production, or 77 and
1.9 percent, respectively, of the total of approximately
135 million acre-feet used in the United States annu-
ally. In 17 western states, irrigated agriculture ac-
counts for almost 86 percent of water consumption.
Water is also an important output in the management
of forestlands, parklands, and rangelands, affecting
both water quality and quantity for downstream users.
Thus, farmers, foresters, ranchers, and park managers
all share an important responsibility for protecting
water quality and conserving water quantity.
Contaminants from a variety of agricultural and
forest practices negatively affect water quality, in-
cluding pesticide contamination of groundwaters;
accumulation of nitrates from both manure and chemi-
cal fertilizers in groundwater and surface waters; ac-
cumulation of salts in frequently irrigated lands; accu-
mulation of toxic metals-especially selenium, cad-
mium, molybdenum, arsenic, and boron in runoff
and drainage waters from some irrigated lands; and
sediments from soil erosion.
In addition to the specific effects of the pollutants
themselves on the bodies of water into which they
travel and on downstream users, there are also four
53
management considerations. First, much of the sur-
face water contamination results largely, if not exclu-
sively, from nonpoint source pollution. Controlling
such sources of pollution is difficult, and such pollu-
tion from agricultural and forestry practices has gen-
erally been exempt from regulation, but this may not
continue. Second, groundwater contamination results
from both point and nonpoint sources. Given the
difficulty of controlling nonpoint sources of contami-
nation, the long-tenn quality of some groundwater
systems may be in doubt. Third, cross-media contami-
nation of water sources can result from attempts to
deal with pollution in other media, such as land and air.
For example, leachates from solid and hazardous
waste facilities can pollute groundwater, effluents into
the atmosphere from urban and-industrial facilities
(e.g., acidic deposition and ozone) affect both water-
sheds and crops, and aerial deposition of toxic haloge-
nated hydrocarbons from landfills and other sources
can toxify surface waters. Fourth, to the extent that
pollution worsens the quality of surface or groundwa-
ter resources, the usable quantity of water decreases.
Challenges
developing cost-effective agricultural and forest
management systems that minimize or, preferably,
eliminate surface and groundwater pollution: from
both point and nonpoint sources;
· devising land management practices that reduce
or eliminate the transport of pollutants through surface
and subsurface flows and assessing the quantitative
effects of such practices;
· developing methods for increasing water yields
and availability while minimizing water quality deg-
radation;
· using irrigation waters more efficiently;
· designing innovative systems for restoring water
quality and preventing contamination from nonpoint
sources;
developing cost-effective remediation systems;
and
understanding the economic and social effects of
possible abatement, remediation, and agricultural
production strategies.
Water quantity has become a difficult issue for the
agricultural sector in more and more parts of the
country. The agricultural sectorneeds water,butso do
the growing urban populations. Competition for wafer
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54
throughout the 48 contiguous states is increasing, and
the agricultural sector is not always well positioned to
compete against rapidly increasing urban pressures
and demands for environmental quality.
Contamination of water supplies, including ground-
water reserves, reduces the quantity of usable water.
Some regions, particularly the western states, have
water quantity problems because of overdrafting of
aquifers. Even more seriously for some parts of the
country, such as the high plains overlying the nonre-
chargeable Ogallala aquifer, increased pumping lifts,
the associated increased pumping costs, and the long-
term prospects of far less water are forcing a transition
away from intensively irrigated crops. Finally, the
competition between the agricultural and urban sec-
torsforavailablewaterisbecomingincreasingly strong
in the western states. If more of the available water
continues to be shifted to the urban and industrial
sectors and if users- including agricultural users-
continue to be charged more of the full costs for
delivering water, new crop production and water
management practices must be developed to maintain
profitability in the face of reduced and more costly
water supplies.
Challenges
Challenges for ensuring adequate water supplies
for both agricultural and urban sectors include the
following:
devising more effective and flexible institutions
(e.g., laws, policies, rules, and organizations) for
managing scarce water resources;
· understanding legal principles and market mecha-
nisms and their usefulness for allocating water re-
sources;
devising systems of rights and entitlements that
allow for adequate responses to droughts and long-
term climatic changes so that both agricultural and
urban sectors are sustained; and
· understanding the potential of water conserva-
tion in the agricultural and municipal sectors and
developing systems and incentives for conservation.
Soil Resources
In past decades, agriculture's main goal in the area
of natural resource stewardship was to control soil
erosion. In the 1980s,thatwasUSDA'smainresource
management priority ((J.S. Department of Agncul
INVESTINC IN RESEARCH
sure, 1989b). The Food Security Act of 1985 included
provisions for a major new conservation program, the
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and sodbuster
and conservation compliance policies that promised
to greatly reduce erosion on croplands identified as
highly erodible. The 10-year CRP was estimated to
entail expenditures of about $25 billion and is indica-
tive of the nation's willingness to invest new funds in
resource stewardship, even in an era of fiscal restraint.
Productive soils are lost to agriculture and forestry
in the United States at an alarming rate. Four factors
are involved: (1) erosion by water and wind; (2)
contamination with toxic metals and persistent pesti-
cides; (3) salinization after prolonged irrigation of
croplands; (4) and permanent conversion to residen-
tial and commercial development, transportation and
electricity transmission corridors, and impoundments.
Soil productivity can also be lost by farming practices
that compact soils, harm soil filth, and exhaust soil
fertility.
Challenges
· developing erosion prediction models that ac-
count for all forms of water and wind erosion and thus
give realistic estimates of soil losses for individual
events and total annual losses;
· developing realistic methods for assessing off-
site effects of agricultural land use and management
practices and construction, urban, and industrial op-
erations;
· developing improved economic analyses of the
costs and benefits of soil and water conservation
practices;
· improving methods for reclaiming heavily dis-
turbed lands;
· understanding the ecology of soil macro- and
microorganisms, how agricultural and forestry prac-
tices modify their populations, and how beneficial
consortia of organisms can be maintained;
· developing alternative cropping systems and
management practices to minimize the loss and degra-
dation of soil resources;
· increasing the use of education, regulation, and
public awareness programs in altering local, state,
regional, and federal policies that may favor poor land
use decisions in the planning of residential expansion,
transportation corridors, and reservoirs; and
determining the societal costs of alternative land
use patterns (e.g., costs for public transportation and
public services).
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l
CNAL~FNGES FACING THE RESEARCH SYSTEM
Global Atmospheric Change
Various human activities are changing the chemi-
cal and physical climate of the earth. The combustion
of fossil fuels to generate electricity, propel vehicles,
and provide power to industries and residences is the
largest single source of airborne pollutant chemicals
that affect crops and forests. Chemicals that pollute
the air include toxic gases, such as ozone, sulfur and
nitrogen oxides, and fluoride. These substances are
known to have negative effects on crops and forests.
Other airborne chemicals include the so-called green-
house gases, such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide,
methane, and chlorofluorocarbons. These substances
are changing the chemical climate of the earth and are
said to be inducing a general warming of the earth's
climate and the increasingly severe extreme weather
events, such as droughts and floods.
Certain agricultural and forest practices contribute
to the release of greenhouse gases. Use of Daddv
systems for the cultivation of rice leads to the release
of nitrous oxides. Ruminant animal populations re-
lease large amounts of methane. Slash and burn
techniques or the harvesting of forest trees leads to the
increased accumulation of carbon dioxide in the at-
mosphere, which may lead to changes in photosynthe-
sis and in the water use efficiency of crop plants and
forest trees. Thus, agricultural and forestry scientists
have a major contribution to make in understanding
both the effects of global climatic change on agricul-
ture and forestry and the effects of agriculture and
forestry on the chemical and physical climate of the
earth.
Challenges
Challenges for minimizing the effects of agricul-
ture and forestry on climate and vice versa include the
following:
· understanding more fully how forestand agricul-
tural crops respond to changes in precipitation pat-
terns and climatic warming;
· determining how airpollutantsaffectsoils,plants,
and microorganisms and understanding theirresponse
mechanisms to such stress factors;
determining the role of natural emissions from
vegetation in the formation of ozone and other photo-
chemical oxidants; and
determining how projected increases in carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere may compensate for cli
55
mate-induced losses in crop productivity and species
diversity.
Biological and Genetic Diversity
Managing resources and activities to ensure bio-
logical and genetic diversity is easy to mandate but
hard to do. Maintaining genetic diversity in agricul-
tural crops is desirable in principle but hard to achieve
in the face of market demands for uniformity in
product quality and farmers' demands for convenient
methods of raising crops. Before the goals of main-
taining biological and genetic diversity can be met,
many scientific questions need to be answered. What
constitutes diversity? How much of it is needed? Over
what areas should biological diversity be maintained?
What is the role of genetics research in maintaining
biological diversity? How will specific management
practices affect ecosystem diversity? What are the
implications for and uses of the principles of biotech-
nology in maintaining, expanding, and changing
genetic diversity?
Challenges
.
· conserving and using natural genetic diversity so
that new species can be found and used for beneficial
purposes, such as new biocontrol systems;
identifying genes and creating new genetic di-
versity by traditional and molecular genetic means;
· transferring genes to susceptible plant and ani-
mal species to create new properties, such as host re-
sistance for biocontrol systems;
· developing methods to measure biodiversity in
forest and agricultural ecosystems;
· developing methods by which indices of diver-
sity can be included in ecosystem inventory proce-
dures;
· expending existing research on ecologically teased
systems for classification of forest sites;
· developing genetically engineered crops and for-
est trees that are tolerant of stress, parasites, and
pathogens; and
· integrating the conservation of biodiversity,
especially endangered species, with sustainable agri-
cultural and forest production practices.
Ecosystem Structure and Function
[retailed knowledge of an ecosystem's structure
and function is essential for optimum management of
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56
that ecosystem. When choosing among alternative
systems, it is essential to understand the transfer and
cycling of energy and nutrients through the various
living and nonliving components of these systems.
Empirical studies have provided data bases for various
specific agricultural and forest production systems,
but these information resources often are not adequate
for the quantitative assessment of alternative manage-
ment systems that are designed not to maximize yields
per unit area of land but, rather, to achieve maximum
efficiency of production over time or to meet long-
term, external social and environmental objectives.
Further synthesis and integration of existing infor-
mation and the synthesis of such information with the
results of new, more mathematically and conceptually
sound studies of ecosystem processes will help ensure
that future crop and fores/management systems can be
economically profitable, environmentally sound, and
socially acceptable.
Challenges
developing integrated understanding of the bio-
geochemical cycles and nutrient cycling in agricul-
tural and other managed ecosystems similar to the
understanding of more natural systems;
· developing management systems that optimize
the use of energy, water, and nutrients in agricultural
and forest production ecosystems;
· developing strategies to achieve a sustainable
production capacity and species diversity within eco-
systems, while supporting mixtures of market and
nonmarket values acceptable to society;
understanding the mechanisms that act to limit
ecosystem degradation after disturbances; and
· characterizing relationships between ecosys-
tems particularly terrestrial and aquatic ecosys-
tems-so that they can be managed to meet societal
goals.
Pests and Pesticides
Pests and diseases claim a large portion of global
and U.S. agricultural production. To keep that per-
centage from going even higher, farmers now apply
pesticides on most cultivated cropland in the United
States. Crops in hot, humid regions of the country-
particularly fresh fruits and vegetables, which must
meet strict cosmetic standards may be sprayed a
WRESTING IN RESEARCH
dozen or more times with a variety of different crop
protection chemicals.
During the past two decades, chemical control
strategies have become steadily more costly in terms
of economics, food safety, the environment, end public
confidence. In some instances, these strategies are no
longer socially sustainable.
Challenges
· understanding plant-pest interactions and natu-
ral defense mechanisms so that biological control
alternatives can be developed;
· developing new technologies to reduce pesticide
use and residue levels in foods;
· finding innovative ways to control pests using
cultural practices~rop rotation, alternative tillage
systems, mechanical cultivation, and integrated pest
management; and
developing improved applications technologies.
Progress in meeting these challenges will markedly
decrease the use of pesticides, lessen the severity of
water quality problems, lower the costs of pest control,
and serve as a foundation for sustainable production
systems.
Waste Management
A national crisis is developing over the careless-
ness with which waste materials are produced, handled,
and disposed. As more landfills reach capacity, pres-
sures grow for some of the waste materials includ-
ing plant and animal residues, food processing wastes,
sewage and industrial sludges, and municipal solid
wastes- to be applied to agricultural and forestlands
Challenges
· developing ways to minimize and eliminate the
production of wastes;
· developing technologies to increase the recy-
cling of waste materials;
· developing better systems by which the wastes
that are produced can be handled safely and disposed
of by means that are economical and both ecologically
and socially acceptable; and
· understanding the long-term implications for soil
sustainability from the application of wastes to the
land.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
agricultural sector
