Innovations in agriculture have led and are leading us down the road of fundamental changes in the nature of the agri-food economy. Moreover, our success at the global, national, community, and even farm level, will depend upon our ability to make the most of the opportunities these changes create. As Winston Churchill said, 'Take change by the hand, or it will take you by the throat'. As we know, change is not always easy, and it is certainly not very comfortable. The model seems to be that any new project involves unfreezing the status quo, introducing something new, and then freezing that new status quo.
Organizations naturally try to transform themselves from one stable state to another.
This is understandable. However, it does not make the best model for innovation. I am optimistic that as a society, we are moving from being resisters of change to producers of change. This optimism stems from a number of factors, but one or two that I think are very important are the diffusion and adoption of new technologies across all sectors in Canada, as well as the increase in the number of patents. We are becoming, whether we realize it or not, a society of innovators.