Detail Cantuman

For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S.
agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food
domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural
commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise
faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness,
and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the
U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of
agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs
of stress, even more so with the change in climate. Water scarcity, increased
weather variability, floods, and droughts are examples of stresses on food
and agricultural production. More than one-third of the food produced
is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of
heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet
greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess
animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune
to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of foodborne illness
or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock,
and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need
more tools to manage the pressures they face.