Assessing effects of decisions regarding resources and
technology on the family's future.

 Roles of women and other family members are chang-
ing as the number of part-time farmers increases. These
farmers often use different and less up-to-date
technologies than those used on full-time commercial
farms. Cottage industries, direct marketing and the use
of personal computers are, however, providing new
opportunities. Research on family roles, development,
management and new technologies on the home environ-
ment is now an important part of the agenda for home
economics/human ecology research.

 The roles of family members on large, commercial
farms are also changing. Women are playing increas-
ingly important roles in operating complex machinery,
managing finances and utilizing computers for account-
ing, decision making, programing of farm operations,
analyzing market information, farm business analysis
and for home/farm management. As agricultural tech-
nologies become more complex, physical strength
becomes less important, and differences in the roles
played by men and women on commercial farms disap-
pear. Participation of human ecologists/home economists
in farming systems research should improve the integra-
tion of new technology with the human dimension.

 Additional skills will be required for handling new
technologies, such as personal computers. These will be
needed in using new equipment for managerial proc-
esses, environmental control, educational purposes and
supplemental cottage industries.
 The number of people aged 65 and over will increase
by 40 to 50 percent by the year 2000. Older people will
be healthier and capable of productive work longer.
Educational models are needed to familiarize senior
citizens with new technologies and to involve them in
their use. This will require research on educational
models for various demographic groups and family
systems on small- and large-scale farms.
 The following research for home economics/human
ecology is recommended on quality of food products and
improved human nutrition:
 The function, nutrient composition, quality and
stability of food products.
 Nutrient bioavailability, interrelationships, re-
quirements and costs for optimal health and
performance.
 Nutrient imbalance effects on the behavior of high-
risk groups (including infants, children, pregnant or
lactating women, and elderly people).
 The effects of nutrition on human performance and
disease control.


 The importance of new technologies for overcoming
resource constraints suggest the following SM research:
 Evaluation of solar energy for heating in moderate-
and low-income housing.
 The effects of pollutants in food, clothing and in-
door air on high-risk family members (pregnant women,
fetuses, infants and elderly people).
 Cost effectiveness of home energy conservation
technologies.
 Direct assessment of home energy consumption.

 Vocational Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Ser-
vices, FFA, FHA, 4-H Clubs, Academic Programs in
Agricultural Technology, Personnel Development Pro-
grams and Resident Instruction Programs of Colleges of
Agriculture-These are eight "action" programs con-
cerned with the development of human resources, with
special emphasis on farming and rural areas. The first
five focus on the development of personnel for farming
(and other occupations). In some agricultural colleges,
they are supplemented with special agricultural tech-
nology programs at the post-high school level to provide
advanced training as pesticide applicators, elevator
managers and veterinary technicians. The seventh con-
centrates on developing Extension personnel. The eighth
provides training for those later employed in the ARE,
education, farming, nbn-farm agribusiness, government
and non-farm occupations. This last area is also sup-
plemented by resident instruction programs in some non-
agricultural colleges. Limited research on human
development is carried on in the programs discussed
above.
 The structure of agriculture and rural areas has
changed so drastically in recent years (Schertz et al.,
1979) that many feel the above programs and institu-
tions are obsolete and in need of major overhaul. Some
even advocate their abolition. We disagree. It is ap-
propriate, however, that SM research be conducted on
the roles and functions of these programs and institu-
tions as we project 50 years hence.
 Human capital studies by sociologists, human
ecologists and agricultural economists will be necessary
to resolve personnel problems of the future. Estimates
are needed of the number of people in traditional
agricultural job classifications. Skill requirements should
be viewed both as consequences and as generators of
technological change. Technological change and human
development are interdependent. Many past studies have
failed because they did not recognize this inter-
dependence. Projections of requirements for staffing
public and privately supported agricultural research,
extension and marketing agencies are needed. Such
studies must be related to the skill requirements in com-