In agriculture, the most dramatic of technologies are the improved or hybrid seeds that emerged in farming systems in the early 20th Century. Scientists researched on crop seeds following the early scientific work on plant genetics, which capitalized on Mendel’s discovery of the principles of genetic hereditary. By the 1930s, farmers were adopting hybrid seeds resulting in significant increases in yields. There were dramatic increases
Figure 3: Historical US Maize Grain Yields – 1866 to date
Source: Hoegomeyer, T. “History of the US Corn Industry”
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in yields in maize in the US since the 1960s when the diffusion of hybrid seeds peaked. Private seed companies were established and adopting scientific findings especially from the land grant universities, they produced and marketed their improved seeds to farmers to bring significant increases to American agricultural production.
In the 1960s, about 95% of the total farmland under maize or corn cultivation in the US was grown with hybrid corns. Farmers produced 20% more corn on 25% less acres than they did in the 1930s.1 The diffusion of improved seeds drove investments and big business. In the 1970s and ’80s, several seed companies emerged in the US to ‘industrialize’ the seed sector. Pfizer, Ciba-Geigy, Standard Oil and Lubrizol were some of the companies that transformed seed supply to farmers into big investments with seeds coming as packages along with regimes of fertilizer and or pesticide applications. Farmers had to buy and use the total package – seeds, fertilizer and pesticides – which were all the outputs of scientific research. The other important externality for transformation of agriculture was the machinery, which was another concrete evidence of application of scientific knowledge.
Mechanisation of agriculture actually began in about the 18th Century with machinery, which made some farming practices much easier and quicker to perform. Jethro Tull’s seed drill, which enabled planting seeds in rows, was invented in 1701. In the 1800s, inventors worked on producing machines that harvested. The culmination of the efforts was the building and patenting of a combine harvester by Hiram Moore in 1835, which reaped, threshed and winnowed cereal grain. However, this was only the beginnings of a machine that probably epitomized the impact of machinery in agriculture. In the 1900s, the combine harvester would be developed into self-propelling machines with improved capacity for handling different tasks in the harvesting component of the value chain.
Apart from the conventional tasks of reaping, threshing and winnowing, it handled the tasks of packaging. In the 1980s, the electronic applications in combine harvesters did not only automate these tasks better, but it contributed to monitoring performance of the machinery such as measuring operating parameters. The modern trends in mechanization are more towards enhancing efficiency and therefore building into the machinery intelligent systems for measurement is an important advancement.
Tractors came up in the 19th Century. Before the evolution of tractors, there were simple implements for tillage, which were manually operated. The tractor emerged as a mechanized vehicle, which provide the power for traction in the performance of various agricultural tasks. The British Inventor Dan Albone patented what became the first petrol-powered multipurpose tractor in 1902. In modern agriculture, tractors are indispensable for the preparation of farmlands – plowing, tilling, disking, harrowing and planting. It is the ubiquitous farm machinery for handling any tasks outside of the land preparation tasks including transporting goods and people. In many developing countries in Africa and Asia, the tractor performs an integrated role in the agricultural value chain as it is used in the preparation of farmlands, in the conveyance of agricultural inputs and goods and in transporting people over rough terrains.
The trend in the application of STI in agriculture to enhance productivity continued into the new millennium.
In the 1990s, the application of modern biotechnology in agriculture became concretized with the commercial release of the genetically modified tomato, FLAVRSAVR in 1994. This was followed in 1997, by genetically engineered soybeans. Soybean still remains a key commodity in the food systems of most countries. The application of modern biotechnology was to produce soybean resistant to weedicide spraying and to permit cultivation over 1000s of acres of land with no infestation of weeds. The same application of modern
biotechnology led to the production of genetically engineered cotton with the trait of resisting insect infestation.
Though genetically modified (GM) crops have attracted controversy especially in the early years of their introduction into the agricultural value chains, the adoption and diffusion of GM crops have shown a sustained growth. Today the number of countries growing commercial genetically modified (GM) crops has increased from only six in 1996 to 26 in 2016 (ISAAA, 2017). There continues to be controversy surrounding GM crops with opposition on the grounds of uncertainty about safety, environmental consequences and health. However, the
1 See https://www.ars.usda.gov/oc/timeline/corn/ The story appeared as “Hybrid Corn”, published in the Yearbook of Agriculture, 1962.
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adoption rate of these crops still increases. Year by year, the total farmland under GM cultivation grows. Overall, the global total GM farmland is 185.1 million hectares with 53.8% in the developing countries, which here includes newly industrialized countries such as Brazil and India (ISAAA, 2017). Table 1 illustrates the current status in the top five countries:
Table 2: GM Cultivation in Top Five Countries in Millions of Hectares - 2016
Country Total Hectares in millions
US 72.9
Brazil 49.1
Argentina 23.8
Canada 11.6
India 10.8
Source: ISAAA, 2017 The projections from the current increases in GM cultivation points to an entrenchment in the genetically modified agricultural commodities in the future. Nevertheless, it does not suggest that GM cultivation will be the only mode of agricultural production. In many countries, there is a return to adopting nature-dependent modes of agricultural practices, which relies more on the intrinsic systems for equilibrium between the agricultural practice and the equilibrating phenomena. The organic modes of production are still preferred for some farmers and in the food market systems the outputs are marketed for premium value. However, even the organic modes of agricultural production are based on scientific knowledge to ensure the right balance between the natural ecological cycles and the production systems.
Industrial Revolutions
The Industrial Revolution is symbolic of the STI impacts on socio-economic development in the world. While the actual beginning of the industrial revolution, is still debated, the outcomes and impacts are fairly agreed when analysed from the broad perspectives of economy and society. Conceptually, the industrial revolution is not ended. There are even arguments of whether there are three or four industrial revolutions. Whatever the case, there are the fairly distinct phases which telescoped into each other. We are still in an industrial revolution.
To appreciate the role of STI in the industrial revolution, there is the need to draw out the main elements of it. Firstly, there is the increasing degrees of mechanization of production where manual labor give way to machines. In the progression of the industrial revolution, there is the intensification of mechanization and automation. Secondly there is the emergence of new materials with the development of new materials contributing to revolutionalizing production systems. Thirdly, there is significant transition to new sources of energy. The production of goods and services is dependent on supply of energy at economic costs. New sources of energy provide the impetus for industrial revolutions. Fourthly, the organizational framework for production systems change reflecting the organizational dimension of technology and innovation (Hoppit, 2011). Fifthly, markets and consumer demands contribute to sustain the industrial revolution. Societal choices and preferences and the evolution of lifestyles are important determinants in the drive of the industrial revolutions. The STI applications enabled these dimensions of the industrial revolution to manifest with significant impacts on social and economic development and the transformations economies and societies have experienced have been the subject of several discourses (for example, Muson, 1969; Atack and Pasell, 1994; Rosen, 2012). Table 2 summarizes the characteristics of the industrial revolutions to highlight the impacts of STI.
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Table 3: Characteristics of the Industrial Revolutions Characteristics First Industrial
Revolution Second Industrial
Revolution Third Industrial
Revolution Fourth Industrial Revolution
Period 1750-1850 1870 – 1914 1980 to present 2015 to future
Key drivers Scientific
revolution Britain US and later Europe US, Europe, NICs US, Europe, Japan, China
In the First Industrial Revolution, as the world transitioned from manual labour to mechanized labor in
productivity increased significantly and the standards of living became enhanced. The increased in productivity was still not as dramatic as it was in the second industrial revolution when electricity, steel, telecommunications and other key technologies and innovations came on board. As the second industrial revolution spread and became globally consolidated, it drove efficiencies in other sectors including agriculture, health, energy and transportation. The third industrial revolution also dramatizes the importance of STI as increase in productivity goes up sharply as in Figure 3.
The Industrial Revolution also impacted on the society. Bar and Leukhina (2007) analysed the demographic transition and the industrial revolution in England and concluded that the increased productivity of that period accounted for increase in per capita output, industrialization, urbanization and the decline of land share in total income. Bearing in mind that the industrial revolutions were possible mainly on the backs of the transformative technologies, the effective impacts are ascribable to these technologies in significant ways. The march to sustainable development in various countries will therefore have to pivot on the key technologies and innovations that can make it possible. In order to understand the trajectories of scientific and technological innovations, which are required for sustainable development, one has to interrogate the anticipated challenges which sustainable development aim to address.
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