|
Video
Documentary Looks at
Agriculture Beyond 2000
A new half-hour
video documentary "Agriculture Beyond 2000," produced
by the American Farm Bureau Federation, takes a look at a few
of the future prospects and trends for agriculture. The list
includes:
- convergence
of food and medicine
- expanded
energy production from farm commodities
- niche farming
to appeal to special tastes and interests
- a greater
role for agriculture in preserving natural resources.
According
to Stewart Truelsen, director of broadcast services for the American
Farm Bureau Federation and producer for the video, the future
also includes advances in technology that will enable farmers
to work smarter and better. These include remote sensing of crops
by satellite, robotic farm machinery and biotechnology used to
produce medicines from plants and farm animals. For example,
the documentary discusses cloning goats to produce milk with
special proteins needed to fight cancer or HIV.
 Farm Bureau's video crew went to
New Hampshire where small farmers are raising goats for milk,
cheese and soap made from goat's milk. These farmers and others
are responding to consumer tastes for gourmet and specialty products.
Another
trend highlighted in the documentary is functional foods, which
are those foods that provide a health benefit beyond basic nutrition.
For instance, research is attempting to enhance the cancer preventive
properties of broccoli and tomatoes.
Truelsen
notes that, even before the recent surge in oil prices, the Farm
Bureau documentary found plenty of optimism for farm-based fuels.
According to one prediction, renewable fuels could provide 20
to 30 percent of our transportation needs. At present, ethanol
accounts for only a little over 1 percent of motor fuel.
"Agriculture
Beyond 2000" also features a couple of scenarios that stretch
the limits of our imaginations -- a skycar that its California
inventor says represents a paradigm shift in transportation,
and the house of the future, a domed concrete structure that
can withstand tornadoes and hurricanes.
VHS copies
of "Agriculture Beyond 2000" are available from the
American Farm Bureau Federation. To order "Agriculture Beyond 2000,"
follow this link.
Back
to Index |
