ABSTRACT
Biotechnology offers the prospect of a vigorous and responsive food and fiber system for the United States and the world in general. The specific impacts or consequences of biotechnology in agriculture can be overdrawn. This chapter provides an overview of the major themes or directions of change associated with the advent of biotechnology in agriculture. The changes associated with biotechnology in agriculture emanate from the laboratory in increasingly broader and diffuse waves. Competition for well-trained senior practitioners of biotechnology research techniques raised salary levels and attracted extramural support. Thus, it might be said that biotechnology widened the distance or inequality among institutions in terms of the level of science practiced, as well as in shares of the monetary base available for agricultural research. Biotechnology is affecting the agricultural research system, the network of firms and corporations that sells inputs to farmers, as well the conduct of farming itself.
