Yet this does not mean that agricultural research is a high risk or haphazard process. As previously stated (see page 26) the economic returns from investments in agricultural research have been consistently and repeatedly high. The returns have almost always proved to be as high, or higher, than other investments in the agricultural industries, and there is no evidence to suggest that the returns from research will be less in future; they may be even greater.

Innovation, research and technological development have been outstanding characteristics of Australia's farming industries throughout the economic vicissitudes of the last two hundred years. For much of this period technological progress has fuelled agricultural progress, and, in turn, agricultural development has fuelled national development. Although the more recent expansion of the mining, manufacturing and service industries is making agriculture's contribution to national prosperity relatively less important, Australia's farmers remain vitally important components of the national economy and it is essential that they should continue to be sustained by an efficient and comprehensive research service.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering