> a description of what are often seen as missteps made as the sector has evolved and modernized. These involve concerns about environmental degradation, exposure to health hazards from food contaminants, animal abuses and many other real and perceived problems, including increasing economic concentration across the value chain to the detriment of smaller family-oriented operations and rural areas. This drumbeat of criticism has seeped into the public consciousness in many cases and created a perception of a food system no longer held in high esteem by the general public despite the enormous benefits it has delivered over time. In spite of such criticisms, this section argues that global agriculture is on track to accomplish its main goals within numerous important, new constraints—but that it remains vulnerable to inappropriate priorities and policies.

> Utopian visions are certainly not new, of course, but many of today’s food activists attack the modern system for its successes—its growth, efficiency and prosperity while offering only amorphous alternative goals based mainly on separate, personal objectives rather than the established public policy criteria they spurn. It is clear, for example, that food systems intended to maximize "cultural experience" without regard for technical production effectiveness or efficiency have little chance of achieving the scale needed to meet future food needs, let alone deal with environmental problems or climate change. And, policies designed to rely only on energy from the sun, as some activists urge, certainly hold little or no promise for large numbers of the world’s people who lack resources.

> Many activists misstate reality in another way. Despite assertions that the modern food production is "corporatized", it is not. For example, in the United States, families own almost 96 percent of the 2.2 million farms, including the vast majority of the largest operations. Small-scale agriculture, rather than being driven out, is on the upswing with growing numbers of such operations, although - after years of rapid growth - organic foods and beverages still account for less than 3 percent of US food sales. Scientifically advanced farming and larger-scale operations produce nearly all of the foodstuffs consumed by the average American family, as well as the bulk of US exports.

from Modern Agriculture and Its Benefits – Trends, Implications and Outlook. by Dr. William C. Motes

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