ABSTRACT
Agricultural production capacity is currently sufficient to meet the food and fiber needs of most of the world’s population. World population has grown from 2.5 billion in 1950 to an estimated 6.7 billion today (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). Global average per capita food availability has risen from <2400 calories to >2700 calories (Ruttan 1999), in part because of increasing cereal yields, while land area in farms has remained relatively stable since 1950 (Trewavas 2002). Today’s agriculture uses only 0.2 ha of land per person (Trewavas 2002). However, agricultural producers are operating in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing environment. Agricultural production systems are characterized by a high level of rapid and continuous change in response to external drivers (Hendrickson et al. 2008b). A striking example of the turbulence in U.S. agriculture is the current rapid shift in production in Southeast agriculture to corn from more traditional cotton systems in response to rising corn prices from new expansion in the biofuels industry (Smith 2007). The impact of these production shifts on rural communities, the U.S. economy, and global markets will potentially be substantial. In addition to traditional problems of production, agricultural producers today also face social and political changes, changes in consumer expectations, market fluctuations, technological advances, and a rapidly evolving U.S. farm policy. New agricultural production systems developed around the concept of integrated agriculture may address current and future challenges.
