Towards the Future Back to the Roots Team Leader: Richya Bansal Team Member: Sorana, Gayathri, Richya Country: India

Dream Job Agriculture will be the most sought after industry in the future. Global warming and world hunger would be the major concerns facing humanity. The paradigm shift towards agriculture will bring down the world hunger index as well as stabilize the ecosystem.

Dream Job – Why? We picture our dream job for the future as an Agronomist focusing on organic farming. Organic farming decreases our dependence on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides by relying heavily on natural farming practices. We can optimally combine technology and nature to benefit the ecosystem and the people in it.

Dream Job – What and How? Our work would include certification of land for farming, efficient use of existing limited resources like water, power, machinery and labor. Research and Innovation in agricultural practices like testing of hybrid crops, using natural aids like compost, and retention of water in soil would be on short-term agenda. Our long term goal will be to curb desertification and raise the water table.

Dream Job – Technologies and Benefits Cloning, Bio-technology, Trans-genesis are few of the technologies, we would equip ourselves with. Agronomical companies will acquire land and combine the manual expertise of farmers with the technical knowledge of agronomists to produce quality yield. Farmers will benefit with a fixed income(rather than a seasonal one), the company profits will increase with rise in demand for organic food, and the general population receive a healthier produce.

Dream Job In India, there has been a drastic rise in farmer suicides because they are unable to support their families due to droughts, famines and other calamities. Not only is this a profitable industry, but the social aspect is definitely a plus. We choose agronomy to be our dream job because the input to impact ratio is one worth working for.

Future Education In the future, education should have a global flavor with an inclination to environmental sciences. Students should get in touch with nature and be exposed to realistic environment situations. They can gauge for themselves the severity of the situation and assume ownership of the environment.

Future Education - A typical day A project-oriented education rather than a text-book oriented one, will peek the interest of the students. A typical school day would be a fine balance between the outdoors experience and classroom learning. Virtual and distance learning will be dominant teaching tools across schools.

Future Education - Agronomist A budding agronomist should show aptitude and interest in Biology, Physics, Chemistry at school level. In universities offering graduate courses in agronomy, advanced subjects as well as upcoming technologies like genome modeling, plant grafting will be offered.

Future Education - University Universities could follow a self-sustaining model, where students could get their hands dirty on the field while employing theoretical concepts. An education like this would be a dream because in addition to enjoying the learning process, they will be equipped with the right tools, mindset and competitive albeit do-good streak.