The Potential Reflections of National Agricultural Research on the Solution of Global Agricultural Issues

Abstract

Global warming and water availability, loss of biodiversity, impacts of climate changes on agriculture, environmental pollution, food security and safety and renewable energy are worldwide problems affecting agricultural sustainability. In this respect, food safety, climate change, system management and risk management are becoming hot topics in agriculture. Increasing productivity and creating economies of scale, intensive technology and renewable energy use, establishing regional agro-industrial ecologies of life cycle assessment, networking marketing and trade and reducing risk are some proposed solutions. International organizations have been focusing on national and international research projects in order to determine global problems in agricultural sustainability and to diversify proposed solutions. Unfortunately, databases of research projects in the world are not connected for data, data mining, and big data processing purposes yet. Moreover, basic research, applied research, and experimental development do not complement each other. Projects are funded by national scientific and technological research councils. Due to the fact that project final reports and results are mainly published in native languages, such material cannot be utilized for the benefit of global issues. The objective of this study is to examine final reports of some national projects results of Turkey in order to understood well whether they are valuable to translate for international uses or not. We recommend that international organizations; such as OECD, FAO, etc. should collaborate on translating project final reports into English, which would be helpful in coping with global agricultural problems. Long-term surveys in agriculture should also be conducted by all nations to understand agricultural changes and technological development.