Agricultural structure, agricultural policy, and environmental quality: Some observations on the context of agricultural research in North America

This paper discusses how the context of agricultural research in North America is shaped by the structure of agricultural production, by agricultural policy, and by the nature of agricultural research institutions. Our principal concerns are: (1) the historical influences of agricultural research on the structure of agricultural production and on resource management in North American agriculture, and (2) the constraints on agricultural research institutions in developing technologies which will facilitate the husbanding of agroecosystems. We argue that the autonomous role of agricultural research in shaping the structure of agriculture and in causing degradation of agricultural resources is often overestimated; for example, the principal dynamics of change in North American agriculture were apparent well before the surge of productivity-oriented agricultural research after World War II. We also suggest that the nature of North American agricultural structure and historical and contemporary agricultural policies have decidedly influenced the context of agricultural research and have led to a number of major barriers to more beneficent management of agricultural resources. The distinctive characteristics of North American agricultural research institutions are emphasized, particularly those characteristics such as the decentralized nature of agricultural research in conjunction with the often invisible power of professional scientific organizations that limit the ability of research institutions to develop innovative approaches to agricultural resource management. Nonetheless, we argue that the major burden of environmental protection in agriculture cannot be placed on agricultural research institutions, since these institutions will have relatively little leverage over the key forces — the nature of agricultural structure and deleterious public agricultural policies — which lead to degradation of agroecosystems.