tion systems in LAC have started moving into alternative trade spaces, producing organic and ethnic products, free of transgenic material, with denomination of origin, as well as raw materials for multinationals, among others. They sometimes use advanced technology and marketing strategies (online communications, networks of farmers and consumers of ecological products, dietetic products, and natural pharmaceuticals and cosmetics). Recently, there has also been a move towards the service sector with the adoption of multi-activity systems (hiking trails, horse-riding, photography, environmental education, and ecological or alternative tourism (Toledo, 1980; Naredo, 2006) that respond to the new concerns of international agendas with regard to forests, water, biodiversity, desertification, wetlands, a gender perspective, intellectual property rights, the precautionary principle, cyber-agriculture, fourth generation rights, and the exchange of know-how, among other issues.

2.5.1.2 The agroecological production system
The Agroecological Production System emerged as an approach at odds with the practices and philosophy of conventional production systems. The AKST system framework is increasingly seeking to revalue traditional knowledge or know-how based on local research and “farmer to farmer” extension, with participatory research mechanisms, in situ protection of agrobiodiversity, and the study of collective forms of social action (Sevilla and Woodgate, 2002). These changes in the traditional, indigenous, and agroecological production systems have provided new ways of generating, adapting, and transferring AKST system services at different scales and intensities from the spheres of governments, nongovernmental institutions, and cooperation agencies.

In efforts related to the study of production systems, geographic information system (GIS) platforms have provided AKST systems with important support and are an essential tool for the identification, delimitation, and management of territories (Echeverri and Alvaro, 2000; Ofen, 2006). The
preparation of biodiversity inventories; the assessment of population dynamics, efficient water management, and renewable energy sources (especially biofuels); the monitoring of pests and diseases; the assessment of CO2 sinks; the survey of aquifers and ground waters; the mapping of current and potential soil uses; and modeling, are just some of the activities undertaken within the AKST context in LAC that involve GIS.

2.5.1.3 The conventional system
The AKST system has had a significant impact on the productivity of agricultural units in recent decades. Starting in the 1980s, one can detect an increase in yields that continues to this day (Figure 2-3). Most of this growth has been the result of incorporating new technologies, mostly improved seeds, crop protection, and fertilizers. The increase in the production of certain crops, and the resultant increase in the food supply, brought with it a decrease in the price of agricultural products.

In spite of this increase in yields, it should be noted that they have been lower than those secured in industrialized nations. Perhaps this difference has been influenced directly or indirectly by the agricultural subsidies prevalent there,

Figure 2-3. Trends in the median yields of food crops in LAC and the world, 1961-2004. Source: Ardila, 2006

which facilitate a greater adoption of new technology. But countries in East and Southeast Asia have also enjoyed a faster rate of growth than in LAC, where the rate of growth has been diminishing in the last five years.

2.5.2 On the advancement of knowledge and innovation systems
Biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information technology are fields of scientific knowledge from which innumerable new technologies are derived. Advances in biology and information science are considered the most influential scientific foundations for agricultural research in the last decade.

Although some authors already note a decline in its rate of progress (Oliver, 2000), information science is indicated as one of the most influential branches of science in research organizations. It is possible that many organizations have not yet been able to take full advantage of the potential provided by this progress.

Nanotechnology is another branch of science that could have a major impact on generating other cutting-edge technologies in coming years. In 2004, it is estimated that worldwide investment in this area was in the order of 3.7 billion dollars (Roco, 2004).

Various constraints, however, have slowed the pace of development in biotechnology and the information sciences in developing countries, especially limited financial resources, lack of information, inadequate research infrastructure, and limited access to technology. In addition, there are groups that are ideologically opposed to biotechnology and its possible impacts on biodiversity and the environment as well as its implications for food security (Castro et al., 2006).

Commercial biotechnology in the region has focused mainly on the transfer of genes to make crops resistant to herbicides and protect them from several types of insects and pathogens that affect commercial commodities, especially soy, maize, and potato. A typical example is the case of RR Soy seeds in Argentina which, according to Regúnaga et al., (2003), is the most dynamic example of large-scale adoption of technology innovation in world agriculture. The authors note that in a period of five years, RR soy accounted for 95% of the total soy crops planted in the country; it was