Will Farmers Be Partners or Serfs in the New “Biobased Economy?
By Walter Truett Anderson, June 20, 2000 It may seem far-fetched, but the next Silicon Valley may well spring up amidst rows of corn. A momentous change in the way we grow and use crops seems very likely in the near future, and farmers will have to make a crucial choice about what role they will play. Third in a series of several articles on a biobased economy. PNS associate editor Walter Truett Anderson is the author of “The Future of the Self” (Tarcher Putnam, 1997). It is hard to imagine any similarity between Iowa’s tranquil farm country and hard-driving Silicon Valley, but journalist Allison Engel — who once reported from San Jose and now lives near Des Moines — says she sees a strong resemblance. In the corn belt, as in Silicon Valley 20-odd years ago, you get the feeling that a revolution has started. The revolution — which, if it comes to pass, will have an impact on all of American agriculture, not just Iowa’s — is a transition into what some of its advocates call a “bioba
