Farm Foundation study identifies challenges in the next 30 years of agriculture

Agriculture faces a number of challenges in the next thirty years and public policy must change if they are to be adequately addressed, says a new report released today by Farm Foundation.

"The 30-Year Challenge: Agriculture's Strategic Role in Feeding and Fueling a Growing World" identifies six areas that will shape agriculture in the next three decades: global financial markets and recession, global food security, global energy security, climate change, competition for natural resources and global economic development.

"It is not clear that today's policies -- designed to deal with issues of the last century -- will provide appropriate tools and incentives to address the 30-year challenge," said Neilson Conklin, the foundation's president. "This is what one project participant termed 'a generational opportunity' to begin new discussions on public policies for the 21st century." (Read the press release or full report)