Solar energy and agriculture

The goal of agriculture is to adjust species and cultivars to locations, planting designs, cropping systems and cultural practices to maximize the biological harvest of sunlight by green plants to produce useful products for mankind. Many products of agriculture may be alternatively used as food, feed, fiber or energy. Conflicts over the agricultural use of land and water resources for food, feed or fuel production will arise as resource constraints tighten. Thus, the greatest use of solar energy in agriculture is in agricultural production itself. In conclusion, a model for future agricultural technology relating to resource inputs would be that which is scale neutral, non-polluting and environmentally benign, which would add to the resources of the earth, result in stable production at high levels, be sparing of capital, management and resources, and which could be alternatively labor intensive or labor saving. Future developments in the use of solar energy for the production and processing of agricultural products should well satisfy the above criteria.