Date: 3/29/99

Time: 10:30

Type: Symposium

Number: 9

Attracting technology development scientists to the Branch

*S.H. Hutchins, Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, IN 46268
Contact e-mail: shutchins@dowagro.com

The need for continued progress with local, national, and international agricultural production and quality issues should be obvious to all stakeholders. The need to address and resolve these issues cooperatively among public- and private-sector science organizations, however, often leads to debate and eventually a sense of mutual distrust. Still, history has demonstrated that each instance of "breakthrough" in agricultural productivity has been founded in the discovery and commercial deployment of new technologies (e.g., pesticides, transgenic crops, precision-farming techniques), largely or wholly funded by private-sector science. Given this, a series of activities for NCB to address the needs of scientists dedicated to "Technology Development" would be to (1) identify, articulate, and advocate the critical role technology plays in real-world agricultural production, (2) facilitate consensus and foster understanding on the areas of the value-chain in the technology development process where public-sector science is primary (e.g., technology transfer) and where private-sector science is primary (e.g., product concept testing), and (3) organize symposia with proper ownership for these elements, especially where "interface" accountability lies between the public and private organizations. The goal of NCB should be establish an open environment, one that is challenging but respectful, one that recognizes specific needs of each sector, but seeks to "synergize" unique talents and perspectives.

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