Actually, there’s another group — the farmers and ranchers who actually work the land. It is in their best interest to keep it in great shape, and thus they are the hands-on experts.
No ivory towers on the range.
Actually, US farmers long ago realized they had to be cutting edge on technology to succeed. Unfortunately, the family farm business model has been massacred by corporate farming, with economy of scale in their advantage. Management is often Dilbert-style, with corporate desk jockeys making “field” decisions based on spreadsheets.
The mega-farm approach would have collapsed a long time ago except for continual technological advances that save them from horrible mistakes. But there’s a problem with relying on future technologies to cover your rear from your current mistakes.
The outlook is not entirely gloomy, though, as there have been some amazing advances that should keep the system moving ahead for many decades at least.
A huge shot in the arm has come with the invention of a new class of water purifier incorporating nanotechnology, which can generate high volumes with only 1/4th of the energy of typical reverse osmosis. This is promising vast amounts of fresh water all over the world, to everyone’s benefit, and the reduction of salinization contamination for many square miles of farmland currently polluted.