It was encouraging to see that a serious issue of new directions to agronomic research in India was deliberated at the National Symposium held at Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat from 19–21 November 2008. Perhaps it is high time to think in this direction to maintain the established reputation of agricultural scientists, especially of Agronomists. The growth in agriculture is not only declining but at times has just stagnated, and it is a difficult task to achieve its 4% growth to maintain the overall national growth of around 8% in the next 5 years. It requires a paradigm shift and there are ample signs of it. But the process of change is too slow, needing a change in overall attitude of the scientific community with enabling policy support. Research must contribute to development (short-term or long-term), and to achieve this objective, the scientists should examine much deeper to the
