Industrial agriculture and its requirement for standardized approaches is driving the world towards a global food system, shrinking the role of farmers and shifting decision-making power. On the contrary, a holistic perspective towards a new food-system design could meet the needs of a larger share of stakeholders. Long-term experiments are crucial in this transition, being the hub of knowledge and the workshop of ‘participation in’ and ‘appropriation of’ the research in agriculture over a long term.
Since the Green Revolution, worldwide agriculture has been characterized by a typical top–down approach. The degree of autonomy, creativity, and responsibility of farmers has been limited by the continuous external inputs of chemicals, machinery, advice, subsidies and knowledge. The issue of sustainability has brought complexity and uncertainty to this mainly linear process of innovation, steering agriculture toward alternative models. Agroecology represents an innovative paradigm of agriculture in which external inputs are minimized, and the assets of the farm are greatly valued.
How we eat has a major impact on our individual health status, our quality of life and our well-being. Many of the foods we eat have a major social, environmental, climate and animal welfare footprint. This expertise defines policies to promote sustainability in food consumption as policies that integrate all four target dimensions: human health, social aspects, the natural environment (including climate) and animal welfare. Achieving greater sustainability in food consumption poses great challenges.
This study analyses the impact of the transfer of technological information (among other a priori identified factors) on the uptake of innovative crop technologies using structural equation modelling of data from a representative survey of Scottish crop farmers. The model explains 83% of the variance in current technological uptake behaviour and 63% of the variance in intentions to uptake new technologies.
We present a model for research and development (R&D) investment in food innovations based on new plant engineering techniques (NPETs) and traditional hybridization methods. The framework combines uncertain and costly food innovation with consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for the new food. The framework is applied with elicited WTP of French and US consumers for new improved apples. NPETs may be socially beneficial under full information and when the probability of success under NPETs is relatively high. Otherwise, the traditional hybridization is socially optimal.
This brochure gives an overview of the work of of the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS). It illustrates history, main objectives and medium to long-term plan of JIRCAS for the period 2021-2025. The three main programs of JIRCAS - focused, respectively on Food, Environment and Information - are also presented.
Ce guide pratique s'adresse aux députés et aux conseillers parlementaires, qui sont considérés comme des «agents de changement». Il donne une vue d’ensemble exhaustive et systématique du rôle que les parlementaires peuvent jouer dans la création d’«environnements favorables» fiables, cohérents et transparents dans les différents domaines liés à l'investissement dans les systèmes agricoles et alimentaires.
Africa–Europe Cooperation and Digital Transformation explores the opportunities and challenges for cooperation between Africa and Europe in the digital sphere.
Organic farming is recognized as one source for innovation helping agriculture to develop sustainably. However, the understanding of innovation in agriculture is characterized by technical optimism, relying mainly on new inputs and technologies originating from research. The paper uses the alternative framework of innovation systems describing innovation as the outcome of stakeholder interaction and examples from the SOLID (Sustainable Organic Low-Input Dairying) project to discuss the role of farmers, researchers and knowledge exchange for innovation.
Los artículos reunidos en este volumen se basan en las ponencias presentadas por los expertos que participaron en el seminario internacional “Políticas para la agricultura en América Latina y el Caribe: competitividad, sostenibilidad e inclusión social”, realizado en la sede de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) en Santiago los días 6 y 7 de diciembre de 2011.