Some time ago a friend asked me, "What is the most important event that has happened in agriculture during your lifetime?" I put him off for a month while I reflected on this provocative question. Then I told him I had an answer which would take me forty minutes to deliver. He said, "I don't want to know that much about it." So, from that time to this I have borne an undelivered speech. When Jim Hildreth invited me to give this lecture I wasn't long in accepting, and I wasn't long in naming a subject. My subject is, agriculture is losing its uniqueness. This is a matter of profound significance, economically, socially, and politically. My contention is that, while we have perceived it in general fashion, it is time that we examine it in depth.