{"id":50220,"date":"2025-04-09T14:22:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T14:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/?p=50220"},"modified":"2025-04-09T19:04:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T19:04:30","slug":"america-must-lead-the-way-in-agricultural-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/our-take\/america-must-lead-the-way-in-agricultural-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"America Must Lead the Way in Agricultural Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The world will need over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/amber-waves\/2024\/june\/patterns-of-global-food-consumption-expected-to-shift-in-next-quarter-century-as-population-incomes-rise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">60% more food by 2050 to support a growing global population<\/a>. We would like to say the U.S. agricultural sector is uniquely positioned to meet this challenge thanks to decades of progress in agricultural innovation and conservation practices. However, the agricultural innovation muscles in America are starting to atrophy, and our research and development investments now trail China, the European Union, and potentially India and Brazil soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Federal policies prioritizing innovation over regulation can ensure American farmers and ranchers continue to increase productivity, increase on-farm efficiencies, and reduce emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"float-right\" style=\"text-align: center;padding-left:20px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"clearpath-lightbox-img alignnone wp-image-5112 size-full lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/67\/2025\/04\/agriculture-production-up-emissions-down.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"240\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/240;\"><\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>Historically, agricultural innovation, led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has provided American farmers and ranchers with science-backed tools and practices that maximize productivity and create solutions to on-farm challenges, including animal diseases, pests and weather conditions. In fact, over the last 50 years, as a direct result of federal investments in innovation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usda.gov\/about-usda\/news\/blog\/look-agricultural-productivity-growth-united-states-1948-2017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>U.S. agricultural productivity has tripled<\/strong><\/a>. Moreover, since 1990, U.S. agricultural emissions have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fb.org\/market-intel\/2022-epa-emissions-inventory-highlights-agricultures-sustainability-strides\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>declined by 25%<\/strong><\/a>. And we should not take our foot off the gas; every public dollar spent on agricultural research and development has generated<strong> <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/amber-waves\/2022\/june\/investment-in-u-s-public-agricultural-research-and-development-has-fallen-by-a-third-over-past-two-decades-lags-major-trade-competitors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>20 dollars for the U.S. economy<\/strong><\/a>. Some of these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usda.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/AIS.508-01.06.2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">innovations<\/a> include:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Widespread adoption of <a href=\"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/tech-101\/agricultural-innovation-101\/\">hybrid seeds<\/a> in the 1930s;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The predominant use of <a href=\"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/tech-101\/fertilizer-innovations-101\/\">fertilizer<\/a> injections in the 1960s;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Satellites used for precision agriculture in the 1980s; and\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Biotechnology for weed and pest resistance starting in the 1990s and for drought tolerance in the 2010s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite this incredible success, American investments in agricultural innovation have declined by one-third over the last 20 years, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/data-products\/charts-of-note\/chart-detail?chartId=104237#:~:text=While%20in%20recent%20decades%20public,partners%20have%20increased%20their%20funding.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>China<\/strong><\/a><strong>, which is now the world\u2019s largest funder of agricultural research and development, takes the lead<\/strong>. Today, China\u2019s investments in these critical technologies approximately double those of the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"color:#9d1c20;text-align:center;font-size: 26px;font-family:'Marydale-Bold'\"><span class=\"md-bold\" style=\"color: #9d1c20\">Public Agricultural Research and Development Investments by Country<\/span><\/p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"clearpath-lightbox-img aligncenter wp-image-5112 size-full lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/67\/2025\/04\/agriculture-innovation-chart.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1000px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1000\/614;\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To promote agricultural production and competitiveness, lower food costs, enhance conservation and ensure rural communities thrive, the U.S. must regain leadership in agricultural innovation by recommitting to USDA innovation initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The good news:<\/strong> The first Trump administration laid the groundwork for critical USDA programs and initiatives aimed at prioritizing American agriculture innovation. Three key actions America can recommit to in agriculture innovation include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"float-right\" style=\"text-align: center;padding-left:20px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"clearpath-lightbox-img alignnone wp-image-5112 size-full lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/67\/2025\/04\/agriculture-innovation.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"240\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/240;\"><\/aside>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Building on President Trump\u2019s agriculture innovation successes in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/115th-congress\/house-bill\/2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>2018 Farm Bill<\/strong><\/a>, which improved farmer and rancher access to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrcs.usda.gov\/programs-initiatives\/eqip-environmental-quality-incentives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Environmental Quality and Incentives Practices (EQIP)<\/strong><\/a><strong> <\/strong>grants, established the <a href=\"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/reports-and-more\/cultivating-tomorrow-driving-high-impact-agricultural-innovation-with-agarda\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AgARDA)<\/strong><\/a>, a new research program to replicate the success of the Department of Defense\u2019s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and reauthorized the <a href=\"https:\/\/foundationfar.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR)<\/strong><\/a>, a successful public-private partnership.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>President Trump\u2019s strong support for research, development and deployment of agricultural biotechnology is reflected in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/DCPD-201900384\/pdf\/DCPD-201900384.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Executive Order 13874<\/strong><\/a><strong>&#8211; Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>USDA\u2019s development of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usda.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/agriculture-innovation-agenda-vision-statement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Agriculture Innovation Agenda<\/strong><\/a> under former Secretary Sonny Perdue outlined a 2050 goal of increasing U.S. agricultural production by 40% while reducing U.S. agricultural emissions by half through the development of new and truly transformative innovations in agriculture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>American farmers are up to the task to help supply the world with more than 60% more food \u2014 and our federal policies can support them.\u00a0 If we let America\u2019s free market advantage work and increase our ability to innovate, we\u2019ll produce more food, reduce emissions, and America will win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The world will need over 60% more food by 2050 to support a growing global population. We would like to say the U.S. agricultural sector is uniquely positioned to meet this challenge thanks to decades of progress in agricultural innovation and conservation practices. However, the agricultural innovation muscles in America are starting to atrophy, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":50224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"wds_primary_category":19,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-50220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-take","tag-agriculture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/296"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saperemarketing.com\/clearpath\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}