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Historical Analysis of the Effectiveness of AKST Systems in Promoting Innovation | 117

Table 2-6. Health implications of agricultural and food revolutions.

Era/Revolution Date Changes in farming Implications for food-related health
Settled agriculture From 8500
BCE on		 Decline of hunter-gathering
greater control over food
supply but new skills needed		 Risk of crop failures dependent on local conditions and
cultivation and storage skills; diet entirely local and subject
to self-reliance; food safety subject to herbal skills
Iron Age 5000-6000
BCE		 Tougher implements (plows,
saws)		 New techniques for preparing food for domestic
consumption (pots and pans); food still overwhelmingly
local, but trade in some preservable foods (e.g., oil, spices)
Feudal and
peasant
agriculture in
some regions		 Variable,
by region/
continent		 Common land parceled up
by private landowners; use
of animals as motive power;
marginalization of nomadism		 Food insecurity subject to climate, wars, location;
peasant uprisings against oppression and hunger
Industrial and
agricultural
revolution in
Europe and U.S.		 Mid-18th
century		 Land enclosure; rotation
systems; rural labor leaves
for towns; emergence of
mechanization		 Transport and energy revolutions dramatically raise
output and spread foods; improved range of foods
available to more people; emergence of commodity
trading on significant scale; emergence of industrial
working-class diets
Chemical
revolution		 From 19th
century on		 Fertilizers; pesticides;
emergence of fortified foods		 Significant increases in food production; beginning of
modern nutrition; identification of importance of protein;
beginnings of modern food legislation affecting trade;
opportunities for systematic adulteration grow; scandals
over food safety result
Mendelian
genetics		 1860s; applied
in early 20th
century		 Plant breeding gives new
varieties with “hybrid vigor”		 Plant availability extends beyond original “Vavilov”
area; increased potential for variety in the diet increases
chances of diet providing all essential nutrients for a
healthy life.
The oil era Mid-20th
century		 Animal traction replaced
by tractors; spread of
intensive farming techniques;
emergence of large-scale food
processors and supermarkets		 Less land used to grow feed for animals as motive
power; excess calorie intakes lead to diet-related chronic
diseases; discovery of vitamins stresses importance of
micronutrients; increase in food trade gives wider food
choice
Green Revolution
in developing
countries		 1960s and after Plant breeding programs on
key regional crops to raise
yields; more commercialized
agriculture		 Transition from underproduction to global surplus
with continued unequal distribution; overconsumption
continues to rise
Modern livestock
revolution		 1980s and after Growth of meat consumption
creates “pull” in agriculture;
increased use of cereals to
produce meat		 Rise in meat consumption; global evidence of
simultaneous under-, over-, and malconsumption
Biotechnology End of 20th
century		 New generation of industrial
crops; emergence of
“biological era”: crop
protection, genetic
modification		 Uncertain as yet; debates about safety and human
health impacts and whether biotechnology will deliver
food security gains to whole populations; investment
in technical solutions to degenerative diseases (e.g.,
nutrigenomics)

2.4.1 Multiple AKST actors and partnerships

In the prevailing AKST arrangements of the past, key actors often have been excluded or marginalized. Preference has been given to short-term considerations over longerterm agroecosystem sustainability and social equity and to powerful voices over the unorganized and voiceless. Strong evidence shows that development of appropriate forms of partnerships can help bring in the excluded and marginalized and open AKST to a larger set of policy goals. A large number of effective participatory approaches exist that

  

facilitate the establishment and operation of such partnerships. Targeted public support can help promote the use of these approaches and thereby address the biases in the hitherto dominant arrangements.

     The Transfer of Technology (ToT) model, a supplypush approach, has dominated operational arrangements and policy thinking. Where the ToT model has been applied appropriately under the conditions of use necessary for achieving wide impact, it has been successful in driving yield and production gains. These conditions include prop-
     
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