Science, Technology and Skills

Philip Pardey, University of Minnesota
Jennifer James, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo
Julian Alston, University of California - Davis
Stanley Wood, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C.
Bonwoo Koo, University of Waterloo
Eran Binenbaum, University of Adelaide
Terrance Hurley, University of Minnesota
Paul Glewwe, University of Minnesota

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International Science & Technology Practice & Policy Report. 95 pages. Copyright © 2007 International Science and Technology Practice and Policy Center.

Abstract

The invention of agriculture that occurred around 10,000 years ago heralded a shift from nomadic hunting and gathering to more managed forms of food, feed and fibre production. The domestication of crops initially involved the saving of seed from one season for planting in subsequent years. Later, farmers purposefully selected crop varieties and so in practice began matching and, by repeated selection over many years, adapting crop genetics to the environment in which the crop was grown. From its inception, enhancing G x E (i.e., gene by environment) interactions was an intrinsic, if not defining, feature of agriculture.