Society’s confidence in science mounts. The control of social stakeholders over R&D activities implemented in the previous period slackens in this period, so that advances in basic disciplines may be incorporated, thereby contributing to the understanding of the environment and its friendly use. Resources available for R&D continue to be adequate but not abundant. There are some additional resources derived from accreditation services and certification of products by some R&D institutions. There are difficulties in obtaining outside resources for R&D. Social participation in generating know-how and technology for productive systems expands. The coordination of efforts among the various stakeholders with different interests and the need for a focal point for similar programs and projects are sources of considerable inefficiency in the use of financial resources, infrastructure, and capacity. At the outset of this period, private R&D organizations, greatly reduced in size and power, begin to participate more actively in R&D, in cooperation with public organizations.
     R&D achieves important progress in understanding and managing ecosystems. Environmental services improve as a result of the better understanding of their repercussions on the environment. The efficiency and effectiveness of scientific activity have gained considerable ground in comparison with the previous period: efficiency, because it is necessary to rationalize the use of scarce resources; and effectiveness, because the competition of many stakeholders, including users, in defining and obtaining a technological solution makes it possible to build transdisciplinary structures that are better adapted to the needs of these users. The time between creation and implementation of a project, however, becomes longer, due to the application of rules of collective participation in this implementation. There are cases where the result is delayed so much that it is no longer relevant for users. There are also many cases of duplication of efforts, caused by the fact that the local and decentralized systems do not have adequate communication and integration mechanisms.
     The participation of so many stakeholders in developing know-how and technologies is also a factor that has a positive influence on obtaining appropriate technologies, but at times they are not applied to the interested systems, either because of delays in obtaining them, or because the information on their existence is not adequately communicated.

3.4.4.2.3 Agricultural production systems
The incorporation of knowledge into agriculture is actively pursued by all stakeholders that can benefit from it. Decision-makers are also moving in this direction to reduce the negative impact of the transition that occurred in the previous period and to stimulate grater agricultural production. Policies emphasizing local sustainable development allow for more agroecological knowledge to be included.
     The markets served are essentially domestic. A few specialized markets are established as a result of the gradual specialization of countries in a few agricultural products, which have comparative advantages in terms of culture, tradition, agroecological conditions, and the like.

Most stakeholders in vulnerable production systems
are highly organized, as a result of decentralization of ru

rural development planning and the greater weight given local proposals. The development of community organizations incorporates social organizations promoted by production chains or cooperative movements in the communities.
     There are resources to support agriculture, with a view to protecting it from natural disasters. But these resources are not abundant, since there are many social demands and economic resources for this purpose are limited. During the last decade of the period, both agricultural production systems and cities suffer from limited access to water, especially in the semiarid zones of Latin America, in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia. This reduced access displaces subsistence farmers and reduces agricultural production in many countries.
     The products and processes of practically all agricultural systems are healthier and more environmentally friendly. As in the previous period, there are problems in obtaining food in the quantities and with the regularity needed to feed the entire population.

3.4.4.2.4 Results of interaction among the systems
Agricultural income does not increase very much, as a result of the dynamics of the local markets themselves. The policies designed by countries to reduce the gap in agrarian income in the previous period are improved and show promising results. The narrowing of the income gap indirectly induces many who had migrated to urban centers to return to the rural milieu, thereby partially alleviating the problem of food supply to the urban poor.
     With regard to education, health, and housing, countries improve access to these sectors towards the end of the period. Access to employment is somewhat better than in the previous period, because agricultural systems acquire greater capacity and experience, and thus are more efficient that in the previous period. Many of these systems also achieve economic sustainability by the end of the period.
     Healthy food is guaranteed for the urban poor, who have the means to acquire it in the cities, but the total food supply is not guaranteed, in the quantity and with the regularity needed during this period. The increased population and demand for food causes major social conflicts, causing many countries to include in their constitutions the guarantee of available food. This only partially solves the problem of a shortage of food, which is democratically distributed among the poor.
     The result in terms of environmental sustainability is an improvement in the protection of ecosystems locally. However, common natural resources shared by various countries frequently suffer from the impact of different management systems, and also at times from neglect, which has a repercussion on other societies.

3.4.5 TechnoGarden

3.4.5.1 2007-2015

3.4.5.1.1 Context of AKST systems and agricultural
production
The governments of various European countries begin to eliminate agricultural subsidies and tariff barriers, as a