The future of ag relies on innovation. That message came from Dr. Daniel Sumner, from the Dept. of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis. He was speaking at the Agri-Pulse Food and Ag Issues Summit West, held in Sacramento, California on Monday. The event pulled together agricultural leaders to discuss the industry from several different angles. Sumner was one of three speakers on a panel titled “What’s Ahead for the Ag Economy?”
“The long haul for rural agriculture really is an innovation issue. That’s been true for one hundred years, and it’s going to continue to be true for the next one hundred,” he said.
He said whether it’s academic research and development or private companies, he believes the most important priority is to continue to attract innovative people to agriculture.
“It’s remarkable how we’ve done that in the United States and other places for generations. And if you look at the places that have grown and been successful in agriculture, they’re the places where opportunities exist for young people. Guys like me aren’t doing the innovation. It’s the young folks that are doing it,” he said.
As far as challenges for the ag industry, the top of his list was regulations, especially in a heavily regulated state like his.
“We know how to deal with the weather. The climate is changing. We’ll be able to deal with that innovatively if we’re allowed to within agriculture,” he said. “That’s not to say the regulations are bad, by the way. We can debate each regulation and some of them we like, some we don’t like. Some are necessary. Some we think are overblown. Learning how to deal with them is something that is a challenge for all of us.”
He said to be successful would mean learning to adapt to the regulations as ag adapts to other challenges.
