The Future Of Rural America by Kenneth Pigg

Author:Kenneth Pigg [Pigg, Kenneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367307813
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2021-05-31T00:00:00+00:00

necessary to design life forms. Biotechnology will have significant impacts upon agriculture, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and waste processing. Biotechnology research is under way in all facets of agricultural production. One example of the scientific advances made by biotechnology is the development of plants that are herbicide resistant, thus making it possible to apply greater quantities of herbicides. Biotechnology provides the means to integrate the genetic program of the seed and agricultural chemicals at the molecular level.

Another example of the new biotechnology products and the one that has received the most attention is the genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (BGH) for increasing milk production in dairy cows. Research by Kalter and associates (1986) and the Office of Technology Assessment (1986a) has indicated that adoption of BGH would lead to the elimination of over 25 percent of U.S. dairy farmers. Further, there would be a regional shift in production favoring the South and West thereby worsening the plight of the smaller Northern farmers. Thus, BGH technology portends a catastrophic effect on the more vulnerable small farmer.

Information technology and biotechnology have yet to become widely established technologies in agricultural production. Most biotechnology applications for agriculture remain largely in the research and development stage. Further, there has been considerable social resistance to their introduction due to the potential unknown dangers of releasing genetically modified organisms into the environment. Applications of information technology such as microcomputers, videotex systems, and computer automated feeding systems have become incrementally established. However, applications of information technology have yet to be implemented in agricultural production on the scale that has occurred in other industries.

It remains to be seen how quickly these advanced technologies will become established on a wide scale in U.S. agricultural production. Biotechnology applications will not become established until regulatory and safety issues are resolved. The further establishment of information technology applications will be influenced by the process by which the farm sector acquires the technical skills necessary to employ information technology effectively. Nevertheless information technology and biotechnology not only provide important potentials for further decreasing unit cost, but could also be used to create greater flexibility in agricultural production.

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