Lewis, Lowell N. : Director-Agricultural Experiment Station

LOWELL N . LEWIS Director - Agricultural Experiment Station California agriculture and genetic engineering Development and selection of improved species , varieties , and races of plants and animals are the cornerstone of modern - day agriculture . Geneticists and plant breeders throughout the world have interacted with plant and animal scientists , entomologists , pathologists , nematologists , and physiologiststo give us tomatoes resistant to wilt , wheat resistant to rust , hybrid corn , large - breasted turkeys , long - fiber cotton , high - producing of grape varieties that give us an almost unlimited selection of strawberries , and a host fine wines . Such a process has been going on for hundreds of years , perhaps thousands . Why then is it suddenlypertinent to devote an entire issue of CaliforniaAgriculture to of the worldâ??s oldest sciences , genetics ? There are several reasons . The first is to one celebrate a new era in this old subject . It is a truism that great developments in science of other sciences have await new discoveries . Although genetics and the interaction brought us many improvementsin animal and crop production , many have escaped us . of a new tool , which we have come to know as genetic Hence , the development engineering , provides us in the scientific and agricultural community with an opportunity for celebration . It is interesting to note that , even though we often decry the fact that the world has a new little desire to understand and even less desire to support our scientificendeavor , as we have recently seen in this area has attracted attention in the breakthrough such panelled halls of the largest companies of the world . Even Wall Street uses words like â?? cloning , â?쳌 â?? DNA , â?쳌 â?? monoclonic antibodies â?쳌 in the same breath in which they talk a â?? bullish market . â?쳌 Certainly , all this enthusiasm justifies celebration . about But more important , it is a time for reexamination and renewal . We have had great 30 years about the values of basic research versus applied debates over the last 25 to of research . research . We have had great debates about defining the different categories Whole universities have been reorganized to separate basic from applied research . In - deed , some have even suggested that only federal agencies should do basic research , and that state universities should do only applied research . This new development in genetics is a clear demonstrationthat creative research must go on in every direction that human beings canpress their imaginations . The structure of DNA , purification of proteins , the functions of bacteriophage , hybridizing of a proto - plast , culturing of cells , cloning of tissues , development of cultural technique , and mer - of new products are equally essential in the chain of events that lead to the chandising development of a new organism . This is indeed an opportunity for celebration , for we of the dreams and experiments of biologists , physicists , have again seen that integration chemists , agronomists , pathologists , and all the other â?? ologists â?쳌 has been an essential part of this new and exciting concept . Let us toast this latest breakthrough in science with the commitment to maintain an integration of all aspects of scientific endeavor to a productive agriculture and clean environment for a healthy world . ensure 2 CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE . AUGUST 1982