Agricultural producers also will pursue more profitable crop and livestock alternatives. Land will continue to have a high opportunity cost because of the demand for land for recreational and other non-agricultural uses. Public attention on the role of agriculture in environmental pollution will continue. Reductionistic scientific approaches have enabled an extensive knowledge of how the individual parts of biological systems work, but an understanding of how the parts interact to function as a whole requires a total systems perspective. Such an approach depends upon complex models and the science of systems analysis.
Systems approaches are critical to effective management of our agricultural and natural resources.
The information needs of commercial agricultural producers will increase in a rapidly changing world. The number of small hobby-farm operations will continue to increase because of the desire for rural life styles. Also, more agricultural producers will be seeking employment off the farm. Hunger will continue to be a significant factor in the political, social, and economic instabilities that exist worldwide. Questions about Agricultural Competitiveness 13.