Even at this early date in the application of biotechnology to agriculture, it is clear that agriculture may provide the largest market for new or less expensive biotechnologically manufactured products. The chemical and pharmaceutical industries that hold important positions in agricultural inputs are consolidating their positions by purchasing other input producers such as seed, bioinsecticide, and inoculant companies. Recently the role of the land grant universities and the entire agricultural research system has become an issue of intense debate; multinational corporations have been urging the universities to shun "applied" research and conduct "basic" research, i.e., the type of research that is suitable for commercialization by multinationals. Meanwhile private universities such as Harvard, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford are becoming interested in agricultural research, and there is an effort under way to open the United States Department of Agriculture research funding to these new entrants in the field. In all of this debate the farmer has been largely ignored, and the ultimate effects of biotechnology on the farmer have yet to be considered. Although the transformation of agricultural research is already underway, it is in no sense determined, and the debate over the purposes and social consequences of biotechnology will continue. A seven-page list of references concludes the report. (JHZ)