The evolution of agronomy: a non-linear trajectory

What is agronomy? Is it a science like physics, history or paleontology, with its own disciplinary field and well-established methods? Or is it rather an engineering discipline, i.e. a body of practices and knowledge articulated and reasoned within the framework of a productive process? It's tempting to sidestep the question by pointing out that science and technology are equally intertwined in the fields of optics, mechanics and particle science. The search for fundamental laws – register of truth – has never been totally exempt from the search for new practices – register of efficiency. However, while astronomy has emancipated itself over the centuries from the astrology that gave birth to it and to celestial mechanics, and while botany has emancipated itself from traditional pharmacopoeia and the process of acclimatizing useful plants, agronomy has not. And with good reason, since agronomy...