Improved Agricultural Technologies

Most of the contaminants discussed thus far are of industrial or agricultural signihcance. The development of our economy is based on equilibrium of supply and demand. The need for chemicals that improved agricultural efficiency led to the development of many of the SOCs on the list. The contribution of these chemicals is, for the most part, undeniable. It is obligatory for us to develop new technologies that can achieve some level of equilibrium between the need for efficient production of food and maintaining residual or fugitive levels of these SOCs below toxic (as opposed to unrealistic) concentrations. 

The impact of herbicides on our modern agricultural technology has been phenomenal. It is almost impossible to measure or to overemphasize the importance of herbicides in their potential for overcoming famine, pestilence, poverty and crop losses due to weeds that were prevalent throughout most of the history of mankind prior to the 1950s. Herbicides have been essential, not only for their direct effects on weed control and crop yield, but also in providing more efficient use of water and fertilizers for the optimum development of improved crop varieties and hybrids. They have also been essential tools in the recent development of conservation tillage methods, which have reduced topsoil erosion and moisture losses in many areas of the world. 

Hanks JE Flerbicide use reduction by improved application technology. In Clean water-Clean Environment - 21st Century Team Agriculture— Working to Protect Water Resources. American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) Conference proceedings Volume 1 Pesticides. March 5-8, 1995, Kansas City, Missouri. (1996). 

Wadleigh (1965) expresses similar ideas and points out the necessity for the use of chemical pesticides, chemical fertilizers, improved varieties of plants and modem mechanical procedures. He states that the development of agricultural technology so vital in providing man s basic needs for civilized progress never has been, is not now, and never will be in accord with nature. ... 

When people hear the word nuclear, they think first of bombs and power reactors. Both have profoundly affected our world, for good or ill, since the 1940s. Yet behind these high-profile applications of nuclear technology are hundreds of other uses that have received less attention because they operate on a smaller scale and are clearly beneficial. Many of these involve radioisotopes - variants of common elements produced by nuclear reactions. Radioisotopes have been put to dozens of uses that have improved agriculture and made industry more efficient. Their most significant applications, however, have been in medicine, where they have performed wonders in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease. 

The mature Haber-Bosch technology is unlikely to change substantiaHy in the foreseeable future. The centers for commercial ammonia production may, however, relocate to sites where large quantities of natural gas are flared from cmde oil production, eg, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela. Relocation would not offset the problems for agriculture of high transportation and storage costs for ammonia production and distribution. Whereas the development of improved lower temperature and pressure catalysts is feasible, none is on the horizon as of this writing. 

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