Everyone is concerned with return on investment, and agricultural research continues to be an example of the positive impact well-placed funding can have. Agriculture is a key to the nation’s economy, and research not only boosts that industry, it also promotes solutions for many of the country’s pressing problems in the areas of health, energy, environment, rural development, trade, and food safety.

This timely Issue Paper (IP 45) includes a preface from Dr. Norman E. Borlaug and has been prepared as an update of CAST Paper No. 1, written by Dr. Borlaug in 1973. The authors of the current paper address (1) future demands facing agriculture; (2) the relationship of bioenergy and bioproducts to agriculture; (3) major issues impacting future U.S. agricultural productivity; (4) major issues facing agricultural productivity in other parts of the world; (5) strategies to meet future food needs; and (6) examples of research areas that could enable the next “Green Revolution.”

This CAST report provides policymakers, community leaders, and farmers with a guide to help weigh the advantages and disadvantages of contract farming and other forms of vertical coordination in agriculture.

Reviews by 44 leading scientists support and criticize the 1989 National Research Council report, Alternative Agriculture. The authors represent the disciplines of agricultural engineering, food science, toxicology, animal sciences, crop and soil sciences, economics sociology, weed science, entomology, and plant pathology.

What is the future of American agriculture? This report examines the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of the agricultural sector.