Future Crops

For farmers, controlling weeds in crops is absolutely essential. Lacy (1985) summarized weed control objectives as reducing the competitive ability of an existing population of weeds in a crop establishing a barrier to the development of further significant weeds within that crop and preventing weed problems in future crops either from an existing weed reservoir or from additions to the weed flora. 

The GM crops currently on the market have in most cases undergone relatively minor modifications, comprising new proteins expressed at low levels and without any other effects on compositional and agronomic-phenotypic characteristics. For future crops with more complicated modifications, it may be envisioned that there is a higher likelihood of imintended effects. The potential use of advanced, holistic profiling techniques to detect unintended effects in GM crops is discussed in a number of recent reviews [19-21]. 

Green plants are solar-powered chemical factories that convert carbon dioxide and water into a variety of energy-rich compounds. Crops can be developed to help provide renewable sources of fuels and chemicals and at the same time to provide a continuing source of feed and food. Several candidates have been identified, which can become future crops for American Agriculture. 

Results are shown for the present situation in Denmark 1996, and for the organic scenario, calculated for the present yields in organic farming and for expected, improved future crop yields. 

Leaf thinning seems to be very effective, especially when practiced just after viraison. The result of this operation depends greatly on climate, variety and canopy placement. A partial leaf thinning before berry setting lowers the future crop volume, due to flower-fall. But this delicate technique can lower fertility during the following vegetative cycle (Candolfi-Vasconcelos and Koblet, 1990). 

Vine inflorescences can suffer from rot attacks if the climatic conditions are favorable to B. cinerea development. Peduncular rot causes flowers to fall and consequently a sharp drop in future crop volume. During the entire herbaceons growth period, the grape is resistant to this parasite. 

Adverse interactions between herbicides and other herbicides or nonherbicide chemicals on higher plants have been well documented. The continuous discovery and development of new herbicides dictates the need for continuing studies of the potential interactions of herbicide mixtures. A better understanding of herbicide interactions will facilitate the efficient use of mixtures of old and new herbicides in future crop production. 

Caffeine. About 3% by weight of the roasted coffee bean is caffeine (16). The second U.S. Department of Agriculture world coffee crop estimate for 1988—1989 was 4.24 x 10 kg (93.3 million 100-lb bags) (102). World coffee consumption was predicted to rise in the foreseeable future at the rate of 1—2% per year and thus the total amount of caffeine and related alkaloids ingested from this source can also be expected to increase. Caffeine and related bases (eg, theophylline) are also found in various teas but, because most of the major producers (India, China, etc) export relatively Htfle of thek crops and keep most for domestic consumption, accurate figures on year-to-year production are more difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, these crops are of significant economic import (103). 

Production of nitric phosphates is not expected to expand rapidly ia the near future because the primary phosphate exporters, especially ia North Africa and the United States, have moved to ship upgraded materials, wet-process acid, and ammonium phosphates, ia preference to phosphate rock. The abundant supply of these materials should keep suppHers ia a strong competitive position for at least the short-range future. Moreover, the developiag countries, where nitric phosphates would seem to be appealing for most crops except rice, have already strongly committed to production of urea, a material that blends compatibly with sulfur-based phosphates but not with nitrates. 

Future Uses. The most recent uses for methanol can be found in the agricultural sector. Test studies are being carried out where methanol is sprayed directly onto crops to improve plant growth. Methanol can be used as a carbon source for the production of single-cell protein (SCP) for use as an animal feed supplement. The process has been commercially demonstrated by ICl at their BiUingham, U.K., faciUty. However, the production of SCP is not commercially practical at this time, in comparison to more conventional protein sources. 

Sustainable Agriculture. The third factor that will influence the future of pesticide sales is the emphasis on sustainable agriculture systems that rely on more natural pest control methods and reduced pesticide usage. These are integrated systems that requke nutrients and crop protection chemicals from on-farm natural sources and cultural methods. Many current sustainable farms are site-specific systems that may depend on the soils in a... 

If there is a biologically timed bomb, it must lie in the accumulation in the soil s organic matter of nitrogen that will be released as nitrate by microbes at some unknown time in the future. The calculations made in the previous section suggest that, when nitrogen fertilizer is given in excess of the needs of the crop, a... 

Current production of NR is about 5.2 X 10 tonnes. For some years it has enjoyed a premium price over SBR because of its desirable characteristics described above and, compared with other large tonnage polymers, a somewhat restricted supply. Clearly it is difficult to substantially increase the production of such a material in a short period of time and indeed the attractions of other crops such as palm oil as well as the desire to move away from a monoculture economy mitigate against this. The indications are that, unless there is undue intervention of political factors, the future of natural rubber as a major elastomer remains secure. 

In commercial practice the crop is taken from the tree shortly before emergence of the new brood. Some of these twigs are then tied to new trees to provide future sources of lac but the rest, sticklac, is subjected to further processing. The average yield per tree is about 201b per annum, usually one crop being allowed per tree per year. 

Future studies must focus on those specific agricultural technologies that have contributed to the increased use of pesticides during the past 40 years, and why crop losses to pests continue to Increase. Research needs not only to identify the detrimental technologies, but, more Important, develop ecologically sound practices that farmers can use as profitable substitutes (15). 

Besides their interesting color application values, betalainic plants are also worthwhile from a nutritional standpoint. Research on this topic has recently been resumed with great scientific vigor in both in vitro and in vivo studies on red beets, amaranth, red-colored Swiss chard, red-violet pitahayas, and especially cactus pears. ° In the future, betalainic color crops will be benchmarked because of their pigment structure and quantity and also because of the individual and synergistic activities of their components such as colorless phenolics, amino compounds, peptides, proteins, and hydrocolloids. 

In the future, the enforcement of feedingstuffs will be more important because the MRLs established for food become partly obligatory for feed also. Validation concepts for this matrix must be developed in collaboration with laboratories obliged to control feedingstuffs, considering the approach of four matrix types for food crops mentioned in Section 4. 

SOPs should outline the steps that are required to carry out the processing of an RAC to provide specific processed commodities and should enable others to repeat the work. At the same time, since food crops and ingredients may vary, the SOP needs to provide enough flexibility that variations in processing can be accomplished to accommodate those crop differences without generating GLP deviations at every turn. Raw data notes should complement the SOPs and provide sufficient detail to allow the study to be reproduced in the future if needed. 

In most cases, if soil samples are needed, only surface samples are collected. An exception would be harvesting root crops where all residues in the top 6 in of soil would be sampled. A typical surface soil sampler is shown in Figure 2. It is the residue adsorbed on small particles (<150 o.m), which could cling to moist skin, which causes the most exposure to workers. After sampling, place a flag in the center of each sampled location to mark the area against future sampling. After the surface layer has been collected, the soil is sieved to collect the fraction <150 lam and the remainder of the soil is discarded. Maintain separate sieves and collectors for treated and control plots to prevent contamination of the control samples. 

Tamm, L. (2000) The future challenges and prospects in organic crop protection. Proceedings of the 13th International IFOAM Scientific Conference, Basel, Switzerland, pp 106-9. 

Benoit, writing in 2002, felt that organic sheep have a profitable future in France. He calculated that with a 20% to 30% higher price for organic lamb and by extensifying the area of forage crops so that the farm is self-sufficient for food, then farm income can be maintained or even increased. 

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