Lloyd tells me that was back in the days when the food grown here actually made its way to the cafeteria. I don't pretend to be an expert when it comes to the details of the next generation of agricultural practices. I also know there's a critical role for government in supporting this research, in supporting universities, like Virginia State, that are on the cutting edge, and in supporting extension efforts that move innovations quickly from the labs to the fields. Throughout our history, the productive capacity of our land and our farmers has been critical to our nation's success. In fact, we've been so successful that one problem we face today is that many in urban and suburban America take our agricultural abundance as a given.
Agriculture is risk.
Didn't plant any,' the farmer replies. Nothing,' says the farmer. There is no playing it safe in agriculture. There's only playing it smart. That means several things.