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Plant Breeding and Rural Development in the United States

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Plant Breeding and Rural Development in the United States OPINION & POLICY Plant Breeding and Rural Development in the United States Keith E. Woeste,* Sterling B. Blanche, Karen A. Moldenhauer, and C. Dana Nelson K.E. Woeste, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, Hard- ABSTRACT wood Tree Improvement and Regeneration Center at Purdue Univ., Plant breeders contributed enormously to the Pfendler Hall, 715 West State St., West Lafayette, IN 47907; S.B. Blanche, agricultural and economic development of the Dean Lee Research Station, Louisiana State Univ. Agricultural Center, United States. By improving the profi tability 8105 Tom Bowman Dr., Alexandria, LA 71302; K.A. Moldenhauer, of farming, plant breeders improved the eco- Univ. of Arkansas Rice Research & Extension Center, 2900 Hwy. 130 nomic condition of farmers and contributed to E., Stuttgart, AR 72160; C.D. Nelson, USDA Forest Service Southern the growth and structure of rural communities. Research Station, Southern Institute of Forest Genetics, Harrison Exper- In the years since World War II, agriculture and imental Forest, 23332 Old Mississippi 67, Saucier, MS 39574. Received 6 the quality of rural life have been driven by poli- Oct. 2009. *Corresponding author ([email protected]). cies that encouraged and subsidized an agro- Abbreviations: IPP, intellectual property protection; RD, rural industrial production model. Plant breeders development. responded by developing methods and deploy- ing products attuned to agroindustrial clients. lant breeders have made considerable, even extraordinary, Major achievements by plant breeders of the Pcontributions to the economic expansion of the United States era include the development of higher-yielding (Olmstead and Rhode, 2008). At the same time, plant breeders crops suitable to new environments and mecha- enabled and benefi ted from the rise of public policies and private nized harvesting and shipping. As social, tech- interests that dramatically changed the rural environment and nological, and economic changes reinforced the expansion and dominance of the agroin- landscape (Woeste, 2008). Rural U.S. society—its demograph- dustrial model, rural communities sustained ics, livelihood, and way of life—was profoundly altered by these high levels of out-migration. At the same time, developments (Lobao and Stoff erahn, 2008). For example, in the a variety of societal and economic forces have mid-twentieth century, African Americans were almost entirely encouraged new food system models, includ- uprooted from farming (Lobao and Meyer, 2001). In the follow- ing the locavores and community-supported ing sections, we hope to illuminate how plant breeding served agriculture. Sustainability indices refl ect the agricultural development in the past and make the case that rural desire of megaretailers to make the relation- development, the increased well-being of the land and those who ship between consumers and the production live on it, is important to the future of plant breeding. of their food more transparent. These forces, along with an increased focus on the quality of rural life in America, represent opportunities for plant breeders to address the needs of new clients, to develop methods appropriate to their client’s values, and to serve traditional clients in new ways. Published in Crop Sci. 50:1625–1632 (2010). doi: 10.2135/cropsci2009.10.0572 Published online 1 July 2010. © Crop Science Society of America | 5585 Guilford Rd., Madison, WI 53711 USA All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permission for printing and for reprinting the material contained herein has been obtained by the publisher. CROP SCIENCE, VOL. 50, SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2010 1625 PLANT BREEDING AND U.S. grew out of the New Deal and developed in the years ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT after World War II. Since the emergence of the agroin- dustrial food system, “rural America has been adjusting Plant breeding was integral to the dynamic process of bio- itself . in an eff ort to meet the priorities and expecta- logical innovation that enabled the rapid demographic, tions of the nation as articulated by metropolitan political cultural, and economic expansion of the North Ameri- and economic elites. Central among these has been the can colonies and, later, the United States (Olmstead and goal of establishing a stable, highly predictable, generally Rhode, 2008). The Native people of North America healthful, and cheap food-supply system that would meet selected, domesticated, and cultivated a number of plant the needs of a burgeoning urban-industrial and now post- species (Smith, 2006; Smith and Yarnell, 2009). The timely industrial population” (Lapping and Pfeff er, 1997, p. 91). adoption of native crops and their conversion to inter- As described above, one of the most important features national commodities was critical to the success of many of farm policy since World War II has been the push to colonies. Continuous experimentation with new varieties develop an agricultural sector that resembled manufactur- (often derived from imported germplasm) enabled farm- ing industries in effi ciency and productivity (Hightower, ers on a frontier that moved ever westward to produce 1973; McIntyre et al., 2009), in other words, the rise of crops that met their needs in their changed economic and modern agribusiness. Plant breeders took an active role environmental situation (Olmstead and Rhode, 2008). In in this transformation, their enthusiasm spurred by the their assessment of this early period, historians often over- dynamic changes in scientifi c knowledge as gene discov- looked the signifi cance of the contribution of plant breed- ery occurred and by the vast changes in computer and ers because they focused on technological change or were communication technologies. During this period there misled by a reliance on yield as the sole or best measure were also many changes in intellectual property protec- of the importance of biological innovation (Olmstead and tion (IPP) starting with the Plant Patent Act passed in Rhode, 2008). For example, the mixing of gene pools that 1930 (Evenson, 1999; Smith, 2008). Many private as well led to the development of corn-belt dents in the nine- as public institutions looked at IPP as a way to recoup teenth century marked a turning point in world agricul- fi nancial investments. Working within the agroindustrial tural history. While the biological changes resulting from paradigm, plant breeders focused on improving the profi t- plant breeding enriched farmers individually, they also ability of agricultural production for increasingly concen- contributed to broader economic development. Through trated and globalized agricultural markets. For example, the modifi cation of plant phenology and the incorporation plant breeders improved the suitability of a wide variety of genes for resistance to pests and disease, plant breeding of crops for handling by machines in vertically integrated made life in remote areas less risky. The macroeconomic production, processing, distribution, and marketing consequences to rural economies of increased profi tabil- chains that now routinely stretch across national boundar- ity and decreased risk were profound. Increasing land and ies (Douches et al., 1996; Pike, 1997; Kelly et al., 1998; property values, the development of local economic infra- Finn and Knight, 2002; Bouton, 2007). Plant breeders structure, and the prospect of a (more) stable and (slowly) infl uenced rural economies by improving the effi ciency improving economic condition contributed to long-term and profi tability of crop production and by maintaining or social structure in small towns and rural communities. extending the environments in which a crop was grown. These communities, in turn, nurtured their members; These eff orts often served the farm policy of the period there are as many striking examples of farmers acting in after World War II, which was summarized in the 1950s concert to overcome common problems (Olmstead and by Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson as “get big Rhode, 2008) as there are tragic examples of the conse- or get out,” and by his assistant, Earl Butz, who himself quences when they were unable to do so, for example, would become secretary of agriculture, with the slogan the failures of the agricultural marketing cooperatives in “adapt or die” (cited in Berry, 1999; Hightower, 1973; tobacco and cotton in the 1920s (Woeste, 1998). Congressional Quarterly, 1973). The benefi ts and negative externalities associated with PLANT BREEDING, AGRIBUSINESS, the rise of agribusiness were not uniformly distributed. AND RURAL LIFE High levels of concentration of agribusiness in the United In modern times, plant breeders are recognized for their States contributed to massive dislocation, migration, and role in the development of highly productive, industrial the eclipse of many small towns (Lobao and Stoff erahn, agriculture (Trewavas, 2002; Edgerton, 2009). Yet their 2008); the dominance of the agroindustrial model also contribution to rural development is more controversial. undermined sustainability, contributed to environmental The distinction between farm policy and rural develop- degradation, and increased inequity in wealth in the food ment is at the crux of the controversy. The dominant food system (McIntyre et al., 2009). In rural areas of the United
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