After 10,000 Years of Agriculture, Whither Agronomy?

Abstract

The evolution of agriculture within the last 11,000 yr marked the first major inflection point in food yield and changed forever the character of the human condition. The application of technology to agriculture early in the 20th Century induced the next major crop yield inflexion point. Identifying the technological wellspring from which increased rates of productivity will be obtained in the decades ahead is far less obvious than during the last century. The agronomic challenge for the decades to come is to increase productivity per unit of land enough to preclude appropriation of other ecosystems for cropland expansions while simultaneously increasing the efficiency of production inputs, reducing their leakage to the environment, and sustaining the integrity of those ecological processes that undergird these intense biological production systems. Such a goal will require different metrics to measure agricultural sustainability and garner public support, new funding sources, and more holistic institutional arrangements. Agronomists, while playing a major role in meeting this challenge, will not necessarily dominate the agenda.

Bio-Refineries: Bioprocess Technologies for Waste-Water Treatment, Energy and Product Valorization

“…Ideally located at the interface of urban and rural environs, the IAPS bioprocess should be viewed as a "new" agronomy that can provide the standardized products and specific-attribute raw materials required by emerging differentiated markets (Miller 2008). Ideally located at the interface of urban and rural environs, the IAPS bioprocess should be viewed as a "new" agronomy that can provide the standardized products and specific-attribute raw materials required by emerging differentiated markets (Miller 2008).…”

“…As stated by Miller (2008) no other industry or institution comes close to the comparative advantage held for this vital responsibility while simultaneously providing food, fiber, and other biology-based products, including energy. Also, potable water is becoming a scarce resource in many parts of the world, and there remains a large divide in the demand and utilization of plant products derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and non-GMOs.…”

Regulation of Agricultural Biotechnology: The United States and Canada

“…Domestication of our major modern grains, including corn (maize), wheat, and rice, began many thousands of years ago (Doebley 2004 ;Dubcovsky and Dvorak 2007 ;Izawa et al 2009 ) . Recent dramatic increases in crop productivity came from the application of insights from scienti fi c advances in the understanding of plant nutrition, genetics, and breeding, as well as the invention of synthetic fertilizers and the mechanization of agriculture (Miller 2008 ;FAO Report 2000 ) . Analysis of specimens collected from archeological sites suggests that major steps in crop domestication occurred in the neighborhood of 10 millennia ago (Doebley 2004 ;Dubcovsky and Dvorak 2007 ;Izawa et al 2009 ) .…”

Modeling the spatial distribution of crop sequences at a large regional scale using land-cover survey data: A case from France

“…Today, 43% of the area of Europe (Eurostat, 2010) and 36% of the world total area (FAOSTAT, 2011) are dominated by agricultural land use including both cropland and grassland. The current challenge for agronomists, farmers and their allied partners is to satisfy humanity"s need for food and fiber as well as the accelerating demand for biomass in an ecologically sustainable way through socially accepted production systems (Miller, 2008).…”