what things will look like 100 years from now. But one thing is certain; people will still need to eat. The question is how will that food be grown, har-
vested, processed and transported to consumers. When we stop and think about some of the technol-
ogy we utilize today that was just coming to market 20 years ago, it is mind-boggling. In 1995, the Internet was a blue screen with typed
words. We can all see what it has become. Smart phones with global positioning satellite (GPS)
connections, and cameras and automobiles with GPS and Bluetooth are just a sample of the technologies that have come to the marketplace in the past few years, and they have become essential to our daily lives. What will be the next big technological thing that we won’t be able to live without? I am reminded that the foremost essential element to
life is air. How long can you go without breathing? The second most vital component to life is water. I don’t be- lieve those 2 needs will ever change. What will change is how we produce, harvest, process and transport our food — this is the third basic component to life. One thing is for certain. We will need to become
more water-conscious in the future, and food produc- tion models will need to become even more effi cient with water utilization and fuel consumption. On a trip to New York City with the Texas Agricul-
tural Lifetime Leadership group some years ago, we visited a transformed high school. In the chemistry lab we met a researcher who was working with an aquaculture production model. He had built a maze around the room using PVC pipe
that had been cut in half. In one corner of the room connected to the PVC aqueduct was a large tank of wa- ter and in the water was tilapia. Oregano was growing in the PVC pipe, so that the water from the fi sh tank circled through the PVC pipe and oregano utilizing the nutrients and fi ltering the water to return to the fi sh tank. This system could be built in anyone’s garage. The researcher claimed that with artifi cial light, a
family could produce enough vegetables and protein for themselves and have enough left over to sell a small portion. It is quite amazing to think about how effi cient fi sh are at converting feed to protein. I’m not sure if you all share my enthusiasm, but this
is just one example that illustrates how in the future we may not be consuming food that is produced the same way it is today, as researchers are trying to fi nd new ways of production. I believe someone will fi gure out a new source of
94 The Cattleman December 2014
energy. We will be forced into this at some point. I don’t foresee that oil and natural gas will last forever, so they are not sustainable energy sources. We need to develop a sustainable source of energy in the future. When you travel, it is easy to see that one of the
chief economic advantages the U.S. has over some other countries is our infrastructure — interstate highways, state highways and rural farm-to-market roads, along with the railroads and shipping channels. These will all either need to be updated and maintained, or some- thing needs to come along that is more effi cient. Technology will benefi t cattle production, although
I think it will be slowly incorporated. Tradition is one reason, but also because of cost. No matter what tech- nology comes to cattle production, it will need to have multiple users to be cost effective. Otherwise, based on sound economics, it is just too expensive to adopt the technology. Producers will defi nitely need to be cost-conscious in the future or have a second source of income to offset less productive practices.
Billy Cook, Ph.D. The Samuel Roberts Noble
Foundation, senior vice president and director of the Agricultural Division, Ardmore, Okla.
Cattle produc- tion will be a technology- driven indus-
try. Tools, such as fi eld
sensors to monitor soil and forage conditions, will work in real-time to project production scenarios based on weather, climate forecasts and market situations. Cattle in the beef production sector will be geneti-
cally designed to fi t production models for particular systems (maternal, terminal, or others we haven’t even considered today) in different regions of the country and climate zones. Sensors in livestock systems will track/locate cattle,
determine health issues, determine average daily gain (ADG), and predict performance from birth to harvest based on forage and feed available. All cattle will be required to be identifi ed from birth,
likely in unique ways relative to today’s technology. Not only will the cattle be uniquely identifi ed but the consumer products that they produce will be uniquely identifi ed to an individual animal, a farm and a story of sustainability and stewardship.
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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