Agriculture has undergone tremendous changes during the hundred years since the Hatch Act was signed on March 2, 1887, and the New York State and Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Stations were established. A person who was present at that signing would be amazed at the agriculture and food system we have developed. American consumers on the average now spend 14.4 percent of their disposable income on food, an all-time low. Business Week, in its May 4, 1987, edition, referred to our food system as "America's supermarket miracle" and to supermarkets as "a national food exhibition." Hatch-based research involving a unique partnership of federal, state, and private cooperation has been a major contributor to this revolution.