It's exciting, and it's scary. That was the message about the future of farming that 40 young people heard this afternoon at a special meeting just for them at Pioneer Hi-Bred headquarters near Des Moines, Iowa.

"We're in the midst of multiple, concurrent transitions" in agriculture, said Gil Meyer, director of trends analysis for DuPont Company and the speaker at today's program. "The smart and the flexible will survive."

The young people in attendance were selected for the New Century Farmer program by the FFA. Most are college students, and intend to return to a home farm after graduation. They will be together all this week, hearing speakers talk about the tools they will need for success, and beginning to map their farming futures. The program is sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred and Rabobank.

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Meyer pointed out several technological breakthroughs that could happen in the next few decades that will have a profound inpact on farmers and the world. Some of those issues include nanotechnology, robotics, and routine space travel.

"What if we have computers that are controlled by DNA, rather than computer chips?" he asked the young audience. "That could greatly change our abilities to predict or control things like the weather."

Meyer also told the New Century Farmers that they should look for opportunities in the things that are happening in their communities right now. For instance, about half of them said that urban encroachment is impacting their home farms. This is either a problem, or an opportunity. From the opportunity viewpoint, new neighbors may present a chance for farmers to:

• Sell their knowledge to the new people

• Develop niche markets for such things as organic produce

• Develop community-supported ag networks (CSAs), whereby nieghbors buy a share of farm produce up-front, before the crop is even planted. This lets a farmer share the production risk. It's estimated that there are now at least 2,000 CSAs operating in the U.S.

"Suburbia is not your enemy, it is your market," said Meyer.

He also pointed out several "wild cards" that could have a major impact on these young farmers in their careers. Some of them include water rights issues, animal welfare issues, energy resources, climate change, global trade, and world events.

One potential world event looming large is the spread of Avian influenza (bird flu). This flu strain has been most prevalent in Southeast Asia, where poultry and wild birds have been hit heavily. It can be transmitted to humans, and about 100 people have died as a result. Right now, the disease has transmitted bird-to-human in Asia because many farmers there live so close to their poultry.

"The big threat is if the virus finds a way to transmit human-to-human. Then it could be devastating, with possibly millions of deaths, and trade borders being completely shut down," said Meyer. "It could make SARS look tame in comparision. No country or no health agency is moving fast enough to prepare for this."

While Meyer said no one would wish for such devastation, it is true that where there is danger, there is opportunity. That could be true for farmers in the event of a major disease outbreak or trade distortion.

Jeff Elmhorst, from central Wisconsin, a participant in the New Century Farmer program, noted that all of the possible events that Meyer talked about could happen between now and 2040.

"That's in my expected farming career," said Elmhorst, who plans to return to the family dairy and beef farm with his brother. "It's a little scary to think about it all. The one thing I would get most excited about is controlling the weather. Now that would be something. And we really need a rain at our farm now."