vulnerable. For instance, the southern corn leaf blight
of 1970 reduced corn yields by 15 percent nationwide.
Small numbers of varieties (1 to 6) dominate the acreage
of the major food crops of the United States. The answer
lies partly in greater genetic diversity as insurance against
vulnerability to climate and pests. Diversity of genes does
two things-it overcomes current vulnerability to pests
and it extends the boundaries of production into less
favorable environments. Basic research is needed now
on interspecific hybridization to help reverse, in part,
the specialization that has occurred during evolutionary
descent. Wider gene pools that simulate early popula-
tions need to be created. The continued productivity of
American agriculture, forestry and range will be in-
fluenced by the size and composition of the genetic pools
we maintain. The magnitude of this pool of genetic
resources will depend upon our ability to preserve what
we now have and to collect what exists in nature, and
on our success in making additions.

 Resistance to Environmental Stress A particularly
significant, yet neglected, basic biological research area
is that of greater resilience to climatic and environmen-
tal stresses. The report of the steering committee for the
National Academy of Sciences World Food and Nutri-
tion Study issued in 1977 deemed this as important as
improved photosynthesis, biological nitrogen fixation,
genetic manipulation and protection from pests. Sup-
port for DISC research in this important area, however,
is not yet a part of the USDA's competitive grants
program.
 Climate and weather remain significant determinants
in food and agricultural production and account for
more instability than any biophysical factor. Stability
is as important as the magnitude of production itself.
Climate is a more significant determinant of food
production than pests, though the two are often closely
interrelated. The droughts of 1974, 1980 and 1983, for
example, caused greater losses of U.S. agricultural pro-
duction than the highly publicized southern corn leaf
blight, which destroyed 15 percent (or about 700 million
bushels) of the total U.S. corn crop in 1970. In 1974,
production plummeted 20 percent for corn, wheat and
soybeans as a result of drought. In 1980, corn produc-
tion fell 17 percent from 1979, or 1.3 billion bushels,
grain sorghum 32 percent, feed grains 18 percent,
sorghum 22 percent, cotton 23 percent and peanuts 43
percent. Even greater losses occurred from the drought
and heat wave of 1983. Corn and grain sorghum reduc-
tions from the previous year were near 50 and 43 per-
cent, respectively, with soybean production off by 28
percent. Poor weather reduced world grain production
significantly in 1980 and U.S. production in 1983. In
1980, the composite index of crop yields in the United
States dropped 20 percent because of drought and high
temperature. Grain production fell off in the People's


Republic of China because of the floods in the south and
the droughts in the north. The Soviet Union experienced
its second disastrous year in a row because of marginal-
ly cold and marginally dry conditions and adverse
weather during harvest.
 By contrast, agricultural output set new global records
in 1982. Never before had so much food been produced,
both in total and per capital. A record world grain crop
of 1,640 million tons exceeded that of the previous year's
record of 1,622 million tons. The increase came primari-
ly from record crops in the United States of 8.4 billion
bushels of corn, 2.8 billion bushels of wheat and 3.3
billion bushels of soybeans. These increases were main-
ly from yields that exceeded those of previous years.
Record production in the European community and
Canada and near records in Argentina more than offset
the drought-reduced crops in Australia.
 Farmers and governments in the United States and
most other industrialized nations are plagued now with
unprecedented overproduction, surpluses and low prices.
Other nations, particularly the Soviet Union and the
Warsaw Pact countries, have not fared so well. The
Soviets estimated production at 180 million metric tons
of grain for 1982, the fourth year in a row that produc-
tion fell far below the planned level. The 1983 crop year
in the United States reflects reduced yields from poor
weather and reduced acreage, the latter in response to
the USDA acreage reduction program.
 Dependable production is as important as the level
of output. More stable yields of the crops that provide
directly or indirectly over 95 percent of the food that
people consume should be a much sought-after objec-
tive. Production uncertainty is primarily a result of
climate variability. Climate is both a hazard to be dealt
with and a resource to be harnessed. During the decade
of the 1970s, world food went through one full cycle-
from surplus to shortage and back again to surplus-as
a result of weather, policies and the way in which
market economies function.
 Farming Systems Research Historically, agron-
omists were first concerned with the production of in-
dividual crops and then developed interest in the
management of systems for producing such crops. Soon
this interest expanded to include all crops produced on
a farm. This interest was then extended to livestock
enterprises and the management of labor, machinery
and finances. Thus, farm management was born early
in the 20th century out of the biological and physical
agricultural sciences. Agricultural economics emerged
later when farm management led, in turn, to the con-
sideration of marketing, policy and international trade.
 Unfortunately, as farm management and/or agricul-
tural economics developed separate administrative iden-
tities, agronomy and animal science lost the economic