Reference climate sites for agricultural technology transfer

This will require that present and new technologies be transferred to the developing nations as rapidly as possible, so that these technologies may be translated into farming systems which are economically attractive and socially acceptable to farmers in these countries. This present paper addresses the topic of a systematic identification of major agricultural climatic zones in the world. The idea is to select locations throughout the world with significant variations, yet also provide some common factors in such a manner as to permit the determination of major climatic influences on crop growth. These sites would then be identified as reference climates. As will be demonstrated, a surprisingly small number of such strategically located sites can provide the basis for crop-production-technology transfer, if the appropriate crop varieties are grown at all of the sites, and the proper sets of soils and weather data are simultaneously collected. The greatest plant-growth research-data void exists at the present is in the extensive area of plant-environment interactions. This paper identifies part of a rationale for eliminating the void with a minimum of expenditure and in a relatively short time. Such organization of research effort must take place if the world"s food needs are to be met in the coming year.