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We used to describe agriculture in terms of the differences in what farms produced—whether corn, beans or livestock. But modern agriculture has at least five dimensions that might better describe and characterize the agriculture of today and tomorrow.
Types of farms
Today, we have at least three distinct types and sizes of farms: lifestyle, mid-size and commercial. Lifestyle farmers are rural residents who have other employment. The reason they farm doesn't have much to do with making money or their standard of living; instead, it's about a lifestyle that they want for themselves and their families.
The mid-size group increasingly is made up of dual-career farmers who choose to both farm and have a full-time, off-farm job. In many cases, they're professionals—bankers, teachers, etc.—and they are pursuing long-term careers in both their farm and non-farm employment. Through technology, they can farm more acreage, in some instances, 1,000 acres or more.
The full-time, commercial producer represents a segment of agriculture that is becoming larger. And farming is as much, if not more, a business than a way of life. Today's large-scale farms often comprise 5,000 or more acres.
Products, services and markets
No longer are agricultural products just commodity corn, beans, beef, pork and dairy. We're now expanding our markets in many dimensions by producing new products and providing new services. An increasing percentage of agricultural output is being used for new products in the bioenergy, pharmaceutical and industrial markets, as well as value-added and alternative enterprises. Modern agriculture also has paved the way for a segment of farmers who provide custom-farming services to other producers.
Science, technology and innovation
Science and technology have profoundly changed and redefined agriculture. Through scientific advances in biotechnology and nutritional technology, we have learned how to do a better job of growing plant and animal products.
Information technology has come to the agricultural industry, as farmers are now using the type of information technology—computers, cell phones, PDAs, global positioning systems—that is common in the non-agricultural industry.
Process control technology enables us to be much more precise in what we're doing in farming. With GPS and auto-steer, we can go up and down the field with 1-inch tolerances. What that does—for any of you who have tried to plant corn in the middle of the night—is allow us to make farming a 24-hour-a-day operation. Technology has allowed us to bring biological manufacturing to the agricultural industry.
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