Articles
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION: A KEY REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLIC/PRIVATE HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS TO SUCCEED
Previously, horticultural research was predominately conducted under the auspices of the public sector.
In more recent years more of this research has been picked up by the private sector, and in many cases, public sector research has declined.
The primary reasons related to this are inadequate funding for public research, changes in direction of research and research priorities of public and private sectors, and loss of key public sector personnel related to horticultural research programs.
Programs being picked up in the private sector are primarily directed towards profit earning.
In order for horticultural research programs in the future to succeed, a closer relationship between the research being conducted by the public sector and that being conducted by the private sector must be further strengthened.
In many instances, because of facilities, personnel, and the commitment to pure science, the public sector can provide much needed information to the private sector at relatively efficient costs, making it more economical for the private sector to divest its research interests into these programs.
Further, it is of extreme interest and potential program strengthening for the public sector to develop partnerships with the private sector, wherein the products of both mission-oriented and basic research studies in horticulture can be strengthened through expanded testing and a greater potential for utility by the agricultural sector.
Any futuristic assessment about what changes are needed in our current perspective of horticulture research must recognize the continuing evolution of the agriculture and food industries.
In other words, our vision must accommodate what is slowly being recognized as the “new agriculture.”
One of the underlying reasons for the increasing concentration in agricultural industries is and will be the impact of information technologies that will increasingly enable off-farm, private sector firms to assume greater amounts of control and responsibility for on-farm production as well as off-farm processing decisions.
In the future biotechnology will effect horticultural research, its direction, scope, and commercialization.
This will be reinforced by three forces: globalization, population and economic growth, and demand for an enhanced quality of life.
Markets of capital and other agricultural production inputs including labor, and for science, technology, and intellectual property are much more fluid than even five years ago.
On the demand side, economic growth and population increases, coupled with trade liberalization, promise continued growth for high-quality and value-added horticultural crops.