This paper notes that education needs to essentially lead to sustainable development serving two-fold purpose--eradicating the problems of unemployment and poverty; and ensuring equitable distribution of wealth while ensuring the right understanding leading to a peaceful, prosperous and developed world. In its current state, technical education…

Historically, waves of new technologies have brought Americans higher standards of living. Electrical service and hot and cold running water, for example, were once luxuries; now their absence makes a home substandard. Today, technologies for accessing the Internet are diffusing at an even faster rate than those earlier innovations once did,…

This article is the author's Distinguished Lecture presented at the 2010 Annual Conference of the American Association for Agricultural Education (AAAE), in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 25, 2010. In this lecture, the author looks back at the significant changes in agricultural education in the last 100 or so years and discusses four major ways that one…

This paper discusses the parallels between agriculture and education by focusing on genetically engineered seeds in order to demonstrate the master race mentality of success and failure or fertility and death. Although gene technology provides benefits in medicine and related areas, it also carries a big risk which might result in the extinction…

How to strengthen technician education to meet the needs of the biotechnology industry was the question before the 50 people who participated in the "Educating Biotechnicians for Future Industry Needs" conference from April 28 to 30 in Scottsdale, Arizona. The participants were from higher education, secondary schools, industry, government, and…

Twenty-eight senior staff members at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC) and 60 senior staff members at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) were surveyed regarding the frequency and importance of their work-related face-to-face, telephone, and written communication. Analyses of the communication networks showed…

Presents interviews with a Mohawk midwife and an Onondaga chief concerning the importance of corn in Native American culture. Compares gestational cycle of corn to that of women. Describes the numerous uses of corn from eating and weaving. Explains how Native Americans and non-Native Americans can be taught about corn by incorporating art,…

The intervention of the United States government in agriculture in the 20th century is an explainable response to basic characteristics of agriculture: unpredictability, immobile resources, technological changes and disproportionate supply and demand factors. The concentration of large benefits among relatively few producers and diffusion of costs…

The Nebraska LEAD Program was developed to address concerns that a gap of understanding between agricultural and other areas of Nebraska's economy could hinder the productive development of all areas. The program is designed to develop leadership through training in communication and study of state, national, and world affairs. Each year, 30…

Seventy-seven percent of Wisconsin's AM stations, 57 percent of FM stations, and 38 percent of television stations broadcast agricultural market news. Most stations devote less than 30 minutes daily to the market reports, which are usually broadcast twice daily, five days a week. Radio market reports are in the early morning and noon hour periods,…

The "third wave" described by Alvin Toffler necessitates the restructuring of institutions. Agricultural educators must stay flexible, open, and responsive in order to continue being needed by the nation's most vital industry. (SK)

The involvement of women in U.S. politics of the 1890s, specifically in the Populist Party and the National Farmers' Alliance, is discussed in this paper. Women comprised a large percentage of membership in many of the sub-alliances of the National Farmers' Alliance and a number were national leaders, including Mary Elizabeth Lease, Annie LePorte…

The National Agricultural Library (NAL) provides materials and services in the areas of agriculture, chemistry, biology, and law to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington and its installations throughout the country, to land-grant universities, and to the world agricultural community. Information is disseminated through…

Whereas women carry the primary responsibility for food production in Africa, development agencies have devoted minimal resources to researching the impact of their policies and new techniques on the well-being of Africa's women farmers. C. K. Eicher (1995) and M. Smale (1995) call this the invisible factor because the gender-related constraints…

Rwanda, a small country in Africa, has experienced declines in per capita food production. Fish culture is one part of a many-stranded effort to increase food production and food security by intensifying the use of land resources to produce a much-needed protein crop. Beginning in 1983, the Rwanda National Fish Culture Project has assisted farmers…