The United States was the first country in the world to explicitly offer intellectual property protection for plant varieties. Beginning in 1930, asexually reproduced plants were afforded plant patent protection, in 1970 sexually propagated plants could be awarded plant variety protection...

In this paper I review the evolution of the sustainability concept. This is followed by a description of three "classical" systems of sustainable agriculture. None of these systems were or are capable of generating growth of output consistent with modern rates of growth in demand. I then turn to...

A mail survey was conducted in Minnesota in 1997 to estimate the value of reducing phosphorus levels in the Minnesota River by 40%. The general population survey of river basin residents was designed to gather information about respondents' use of the Minnesota River in addition to their...

The results of estimating reduced form supply and input demand functions suggest that farm programs have increased the area planted to corn and soybeans in the corn belt by about 12 percent, and increased fertilizer and chemical use per acre by about 18 percent. It is argued that a limited land...