ABSTRACT
The agricultural business consists of a vast infra-structure of supporting and allied industries including food processing, storage, transportation, credit and employment, fertilizers, and chemical and food companies. The sustainability of this successful record has now come under scrutiny by many groups within and external to the agricultural establishment itself. The critics are many and they take on a variety of forms and issues. Climate is the determining factor in the stability and magnitude of our food production capability. Significant changes have occurred in many aspects of American agriculture during the past decade. The percentage of income expended for food, however, has not changed. It is consistently the lowest in the world. Costs, inputs, and prices have fluctuated wildly. Great degrees of uncertainty characterize the United States food production system. The determinants of agricultural production are three: new technologies, resource inputs, and economic incentives.
