Land productivity and agricultural technology

Excerpt

THIS nation's agricultural success is the product of many factors: abundant land and water, a favorable climate, and a history of resourceful farmers and technological innovation. The nation meets not only its own needs but supplies a substantial portion of the agricultural products used around the world. But in the future, as demand increases, so must agricultural productivity.

Part of the necessary growth may come from farming additional acreage. But most of the increase will depend upon intensifying production with improved agricultural technologies. The question remains, however, whether farmland and rangeland resources can sustain such intensive use.

This question, asked by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, is the basis for a recently published study, Impacts of Technology on U. S. Cropland and Rangeland Productivity, by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), a nonpartisan support agency serving the U.S. Congress. The study assesses how agricultural technologies affect the inherent productivity of agricultural ecosystems in the United States. It examines processes-including erosion, compaction, inadequate drainage, salinization, range mismanagement, groundwater depletion, and land subsidence-that can damage land quality and it discusses a number of technological remedies. Like other studies on the topic, the report provides …