Good article, although I need to digest some of the points. I don't necessarily agree with a few points. The highlight for me is one of the last graphs showing

Good article, although I need to digest some of the points. I don't necessarily agree with a few points. The highlight for me is one of the last graphs showing a sharp deviation in private sector ag R&D and public sector R&D. Private sector agriculture corporations are dominated by legacy multinationals that are very much in the rent-seeking stage of their existence. Because of onerous regulations (that aren't necessarily wrong) it is difficult for start-ups to disrupt these legacy players. However Ag3.0 (yes I am stealing a web3.0 reference) will change this dynamic significantly when this current 'chemical era' in worldwide agriculture burns itself out due to unsustainability. See website in bio for my thoughts. ETA: The 'cheat code' used to get that insane efficiency on corn yields is well known and well understood. Single-cross hybrids. Once scientists/breeders perfected the seed production mechanism, we reap those insane gains in the early 1940s. It was a transcendent change and IMO needs to be analyzed through a different lens that the slow grind of mechanization improvements, fertility improvements, etc. ETA2: this link has a graphic that shows a _different_ measure of efficiency, one that shows steady growth over the past ~50 years. https://thinkingagriculture.io/what-agriculture-has-and-doesnt-have/ https://thinkingagriculture.io/what-agriculture-has-and-does...