A Second-Century Agenda for State Agricultural Experiment Stations: A View from the Twenty-First Century

The system coordinates teaching, research, extension, and international programs in the land grant universities in each of fifty states and at Tuskegee University and sixteen colleges of 1890. Societal trends are also affecting agriculture and impacting the research agenda. There are increases in disposable incomes, a rising interest in physical fitness, and increasing expenditures for "health," "natural," and "organic" foods. The argument goes that such a moratorium would slow growth in agricultural production and permit domestic and international markets to absorb the surplus at no real cost to consumers or producers. Technical assistance programs for agriculturally developing countries are under fire. The argument is that with our new technologies and their cheap labor, the American farmer is being thrown out of business. A "grazing society" or "grazing craze" has emerged with demands for "fest foods" and "eating on the run."