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Biotechnology: A Dilemma For Land-Grant Institutions, A. David Kline

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

There is at least a prima facie moral tension between universities asserting land-grant principles and simultaneously sponsoring biotechnology. The core of the problem is the likely deleterious economic effects of biotechnology on rural communities -- the very constituency whose welfare is supposedly promoted by land-grant institutions. Considered are a number of responses to this tension including efforts to show that the tension is only apparent or that it can be eliminated through various public policies. It is argued that these "solutions" fail.

The upshot is that if the land-grant label is to be taken seriously, those institutions should begin allocating …

Economic Changes From The Use Of Biotechnology In Production Agriculture, Loren W. Tauer

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The potential economic impact of biotechnology in production agriculture is discussed. There are challenges and difficulties in completing economic research when little production information is available on biotechnologies. I argue that little impact differences exist between cost-reducing versus output-increasing technological change. Rapid technological change results in low average returns in agriculture but continuous early innovators earn higher returns. Various plant and animal technologies are presented and discussed.