ABSTRACT

In this chapter, the4 authors examines the likely contributions of biotechnology to agriculture in the broadest terms possible. They consider the products that have already been developed and commercialized or which will come to the marketplace in the next few years. Agricultural applications of biotechnology will eventually touch the lives of virtually everyone in some way. The agricultural sector, while only a subset of the entire universe of the industries biotechnology will influence, contains a full complement of the opportunities, issues and applications created by the technology. But biotechnology is also leading to whole new approaches for attaining useful products from agricultural commodities. These applications of biotechnology could be classified as new opportunities rather than new solutions to old problems. These near-term and long-term developments comprise the “content” of agricultural biotechnology. Some agricultural biotechnology applications will include the use of genetic engineering technologies identical to those in use for the production of human healthcare products.