Agricultural Development and Environmental Research American and Czechoslovak Perspectives: Proceedings of a Bilateral Workshop (1987) / Chapter Skim
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'RESOURCE DEPLETION AND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT'
'RESOURCE DEPLETION AND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT'
Pages 97-111
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From page 97... ...
This yield increase, in turn, follows agronomic innovations which require increasing intensity of energy use per hectare. Table 1 shows major world increases in tractor use, fertilizer application, 97
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From page 98... ...
The issues are to understand why food sufficiency remains a problem in some areas, how the finiteness of world petroleum resources will affect future agricultural development, and what the implications of long-run sustainability will be for research agendas. ECONOMIC THEORY OF RENEWABLE AND FINITE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS WITH ENVIRONMENTAL EXTERNALITIES A conventional economic view might frame an optimization problem for maximizing net social value.
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An important corollary of this first assumption is that participation in agricultural markets enhances social value. An agricultural African household that abandons self-production and consumption for market sales and purchases increases the social value of agricultural output.
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It is assumed that this world carrying capacity N is dependent on sustainable yield for agricultural production. In Figure 1, total cost of agricultural output at population level NI could be equal to total revenue P*
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However, the focus of this paper is energy use and agriculture. ENERGY INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE AND THIRD WORLD AUTOMOBILES Development economists generally have not considered resource availability or cost as major factors affecting agricultural development.
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. With world consumption at 300 Q, global agricultural energy consumption is probably much smaller than three Q
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The rapid short-run fluctuations in market power and monopoly pricing should not be confused with the gradual depletion of conventional oil. Many agricultural energy inputs can use other energy forms besides oil.
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However, at some point in the next century accelerating energy prices will require a new direction in production technology. Hopefully, agricultural researchers will be aware of this problem a priori rather than post hoc.
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The immediate conclusion, then, is that energy intensive agriculture can continue to expand for some decades. Ultimately, however, agricultural research will need to focus on high yields with less conventional oil and natural gas requirements.
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However, there is a very fine balance between surplus and deficit in domestic and world grain markets. Even with an infinite supply of chemical fertilizers, crop yield potentials must continue to increase in order to meet future food demands (16)
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We in the developed world have become considerably more conscious of the environmental damage caused by misuse of chemicals. Why is such misuse being encouraged in developing countries even when more effective plant protection methods exist?
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Thus, whether advances in biotechnology will reduce the demand for chemicals remains to be seen. Biological nitrogen fixation appears to offer the greatest potential as a substitute for chemical fertilizers in the long-term.
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Because biotechnology innovations are patentable, the private sector in the developed countries is making a major investment in biotechnology research. A new alliance is developing between the public sector engaged in basic scientific research and the private sector engaged in technology development.
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From page 110... ...
For the main food crops, access can come through the International Agricultural Research Centers and through national programs in larger countries such as India or Brazil. However, present linkages between these institutions and advanced laboratories in the developed world are very weak, and funding necessary to strengthen these linkages must come largely from developed country donor agencies.
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From page 111... ...
Oklahoma State University Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin T-163 (September)
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