In It For The Long HaulIn A World Increasingly Obsessed With Speed, Could Patient Still Win The Race?

摘要

As we write this, there is a truck somewhere between Aberdeen, Idaho and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, barreling down the highway with potatoes on board. But these are no ordinary potatoes. They belong to the National Fry Processors Trials (NFPT), bornin 2011 to enhance variety development—a process that, like the 1,066 miles that separate Aberdeen and East Grand Forks, is a long-haul. Coming up with a new potato variety is an exercise in patience, a sharp contrast to the frenetic pace of other research activity. In August, for instance, the Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation unveiled a fleet of new research centers that will apply technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to the farm. With so much emphasis on venture capital's bias toward speed, slick hardware, and, of course, software, there is the risk that lower profile, "traditional" science could go overlooked.