by David L. Richer

About the author: David L. Richer is connected with AgrEvo UK Limited, a British agricultural biotechnology company now owned by Aventis.

Everything that can be invented has been invented.

CH Duell, US Patent Office, 1899

Invention did not cease at the end of the last century, and as is all too apparent, the world is faced with an unprecedented explosion in technology. Not all of this is universally welcomed—the irritation of mobile telephones on public transport comes immediately to mind—but the new technologies affect every area of our lives. Nowhere is this more true than in agriculture.

Changes in farming proceeded slowly but steadily for thousands of years, but accelerated during the last two centuries as scientists and other observers came to understand the farming process...