The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has unveiled five major directions for the future development of agriculture.

Earlier this year, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine jointly released a research report titled “Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030,” which outlines the five key research priorities that U.S. scientists identify as urgently needing breakthroughs in the agricultural sector.

First, holistic thinking and systems‑based analytical approaches are the primary prerequisites for achieving breakthroughs in agricultural science and technology. The agricultural system is a complex, large-scale system, and it is increasingly difficult to achieve overall improvement through isolated technological breakthroughs at specific points. The report recommends prioritizing interdisciplinary research and systems‑based approaches as the preferred means of addressing major, critical challenges. Systems thinking entails examining problem‑solving pathways by analyzing the system’s constituent elements, their interaction mechanisms, and coupling effects. As the saying goes, “mountains, waters, forests, farmland, lakes, and grasslands constitute a single living community”; scientific advances in agriculture must move beyond a reductionist, single‑factor perspective and adopt a holistic framework that considers resource utilization, operational efficiency, systemic resilience, and sustainability. In China, the low ecological efficiency, weak competitiveness, and ecological unsustainability of agriculture largely stem from how land resources are used. Accordingly, technological breakthroughs in the agricultural sector should begin with the governance, restoration, and enhancement of land resources.

Second, next-generation sensor technology will serve as the foundational enabling technology driving advancements in the agricultural sector. Quantities define the world, and precision shapes the future. The United States regards the development and application of high‑precision, field‑deployable sensors, as well as biosensors, as pivotal to achieving breakthroughs in next‑generation technologies. Today, sensor technology is already widely used in agriculture, yet its applications remain largely confined to measuring single parameters such as temperature. To fully grasp the mechanisms governing an entire system, the ability to continuously monitor and track the interrelationships among multiple variables is essential. Notably, next‑generation sensor technologies go beyond merely monitoring and integrating physical environmental and biological attributes; they also encompass novel nano‑ and bio‑sensors—engineered through materials science, microelectronics, and nanotechnology—that enable real‑time surveillance of dynamic processes, such as the cycling of water molecules, pathogens, and microorganisms across soil, flora, fauna, and the broader environment. With their capabilities for rapid detection, continuous monitoring, and real‑time feedback, these advanced sensors will provide a robust data foundation for systemic understanding, empowering humanity to adopt a proactive “preventive‑care” approach—identifying and addressing potential issues before symptoms emerge. If we can precisely detect and quantitatively assess emerging risks at the very stage of resource utilization, and implement timely, adaptive adjustments, this would fundamentally transform China’s agricultural production and resource‑management practices. Consequently, next‑generation sensor technologies represent critical capabilities that China must master.

Third, data science and information technology are strategic key technologies in the agricultural sector. Advances in data science and analytics tools have created significant opportunities to enhance research and the application of knowledge in the agricultural sector. The report notes that, despite the vast amounts of data collected across food systems, agriculture, and natural resources, laboratory research and production practices have long remained disconnected, with a lack of effective tools to broadly leverage existing data, knowledge, and models. The development of big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and other technologies has enabled faster collection, analysis, storage, sharing, and integration of heterogeneous datasets, as well as advanced analytical methods. In other words, data science and information technology can substantially improve our ability to address complex challenges, translate extensive research findings from agriculture, resource management, and related fields into practical applications, automatically integrate data under dynamic conditions, and perform real-time modeling—thereby fostering data‑driven, intelligent decision‑making and management.

Fourth, groundbreaking genomics and precision breeding technologies should be encouraged and adopted. With the advent of gene-editing technologies, targeted genetic improvement can be achieved in plants and animals in ways that traditional methods cannot. By integrating genomic information, advanced breeding techniques, and precision‑breeding approaches into routine breeding and selection programs, it is possible to refine traits that significantly influence agricultural productivity and the quality of agricultural products—quickly and with high precision. This capability opens the door to developing new crop varieties and soil microbes, creating disease‑resistant plants and animals, modulating organisms’ responses to environmental stresses, and harnessing biodiversity to unlock valuable genes. Such groundbreaking technologies should be encouraged and adopted to enhance agricultural productivity, improve resistance to diseases and drought, and boost the nutritional value of food crops.

Fifth, microbiome technologies are essential for understanding and elucidating the functioning of agricultural systems. Through a wealth of research published in recent years, we have come to recognize the critical importance of human microbiota for health. By contrast, our understanding of the microbial communities in soil, plants, and animals—and their impacts on agriculture—remains limited. As increasingly sophisticated tools are deployed to explore agricultural microbiomes, the United States is poised to achieve breakthrough advances over the next decade: building a comprehensive agricultural microbiome database, gaining deeper insights into molecular‑level interactions among soil, plant, and animal microbiomes, and enhancing agricultural productivity and resilience through improved soil structure, greater feed efficiency and nutrient use, and increased resistance to environmental stresses and diseases—potentially transforming agriculture altogether. Central to this effort is the characterization of interactions between soil and plant microbiomes. Soil microbiomes are intimately linked to the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and numerous other elements in the context of climate change, and they influence key global ecosystem services via processes that remain poorly understood. Deepening our grasp of fundamental microbial components and strengthening their roles in nutrient cycling are essential for ensuring sustainable agricultural production worldwide. Over the next decade, the United States will pursue technological breakthroughs in agriculture by focusing on five core areas: systems‑level cognitive analytics, precise dynamic sensing, data science, gene editing, and microbiome engineering. These same priorities represent indispensable, cutting‑edge technologies that China’s agricultural sector must also strive to master. At the same time, given China’s resource constraints—characterized by thin, low‑quality soils—Chinese scientists must make further advances in several transformative, future‑oriented domains, addressing major scientific questions related to the life‑community of mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, and grasslands, as well as pressing engineering challenges in land‑resource security and management. By establishing a science‑and‑technology framework centered on precision surveying, refined sensing, and smart governance, progress can be achieved in key core technologies, such as big‑data platforms for arable‑land quality, advanced diagnostics for farmland health, methods for constructing ecologically sound farmland, techniques for conserving soil biodiversity and maintaining cultivated land, and simulation tools for modeling the evolution of agricultural systems. Targeted restoration and remediation efforts should be undertaken in priority regions, including holistic protection of black soils, systematic rehabilitation of the Yellow River Basin, and integrated management of saline‑alkali and sandy lands. Moreover, full commitment must be devoted to addressing critical national needs, such as research on global change and low‑carbon farming systems, and intelligent monitoring of arable resources. The ongoing new round of scientific and industrial revolutions is reshaping the global innovation landscape. To navigate this transformation, it is imperative to map out a clear roadmap for future technological development, define strategic priorities, and recognize that arable‑land resources constitute an indispensable component of this endeavor.

Source: AIA International Journal