These improvements in diet have saved millions of dollars in neonatal and child health care costs and have prevented and controlled diet-related diseases. A number of positive steps have been made. New technologies have made it possible to reduce by 393 million acres the prime farmland required to meet the nation's needs for production since the 1950s. New technologies and improved farming practices have reduced soil erosion by a factor of six times over the erosion rates of the 1930s. Improved soil and tissue testing, new formulations, and new methods of delivering plant nutrients have made nutrients more available when and where they are needed for plant growth while minimizing the chance that these nutrients will leach into groundwater or run off into surface waters.
Food is a necessary staple.
The challenge for researchers and educators to is to develop production and processing technologies that minimize environmental impacts and preserves the natural resource base. In general, companies focus on short-term returns that can be recouped through added profit. Private funding tends to target investments where the involved companies have an opportunity to reap a direct benefit. The private sector may address some applied and development research, but public funding in agricultural research must occur in areas where no company will invest because they cannot guarantee that they alone will benefit. Strengthening the Opportunities for Multi-Disciplinary Research Because the membership of scientific societies includes experts from academia, government, entrepreneurs, and corporations, these scientific societies are pivotal to creating change and to providing critical networks.