The technological development of the productive chains in Latin America

Abstract

Future actions aimed at the technological development of Latin American agri-food and agro-industrial systems should seek to anticipate trends and ensure the permanent adjustment of research and development priorities, with a view to innovations inspired by the logic of productive chains, which are increasingly dependent on knowledge and technology. In order to ensure quantity and quality for the increasing supply of food while preserving natural resources and adding value to the product, it is necessary to invest in research, in a transdisciplinary approach, in systems that are increasingly complex and strikingly bound to convergent technologies. The migration of production systems with few activities to those more complicated will be a reality in the coming decades, contributing to the increasingly dynamic processes that will be part of the agribusiness that opens up for the future. This scenario will bring in the upcoming decades new agro-socio-environmental paradigms and places Latin America in evidence. The advance of urbanization and the new dietary habits of the population will exact attention to the growth and sophistication in demand for goods and services. The sector needs to reinvent itself as the pressure for efficient use of natural resources grows leading to the emergence of a new production pattern focused on the delivery of products with quality control, traceability, and greater diversification. In this promising scenario with great potential for use, Latin America can move forward to support the expansion of the agro-food and agro-industrial systems, taking alfalfa as the basis of a Platform to direct future networked research work, generating knowledge to promote innovations and sustainable technological development in the region.