ABSTRACT
Biotechnology is affecting agriculture in a number of profound ways. New techniques offer different ways of producing existing substances as well as a new array of chemical tools for improving the efficiency of agricultural production processes. A major objective of biotechnology research in plants is to change the genetic makeup of crops to give them increased resistance to environmental and biological stresses so there will be less reliance on the amelioration of these stresses by cultural means. At the global level, biotechnology is fueling international competition for primacy in the marketing of new technology and the production of food and fiber. Biotechnology offers the prospect of accelerating the rate of productivity growth in agriculture. The chapter examines the nature and sources of biotechnology's social impacts on agriculture. By definition this is a somewhat speculative effort, as the outcomes of biotechnology research are only beginning to be available for use at the farm level.
