- The long-term efficient and sustainable production of food, fiber and energy is paramount to meet human needs given population growth, declining natural resources, changing climate, and increasing environmental awareness.
- Agricultural production must be practiced in a responsible manner, recognizing the importance of being consistent with social, economic and environmental desires as well as risks and benefits.
- The LTARN must:
- Intentionally address research, engagement and education simultaneously
- Comprise short- and medium-term experiments to achieve long-term goals
- Emphasize resource-use efficiency and outcome-based results that are applicable across a broad range of user groups
- Be flexible enough to remain relevant yet consistent enough to reliably assess long-term needs
- Be nimble, scalable, intentionally multidisciplinary, and inclusive
- Include a robust and integrated educational component that meets the needs of both consumers and producers
- Follow a multi-value systems approach to system design recognizing agriculture’s contributions to rural economics, global food security, and the environment in addition to farm income
- Facilitate sharing of data and ideas among existing LTER, LTAR, and other research networks