the production units, with better ecological and economic conditions, manage to become organized within these chains and markets and thus improve their profitability.
     For some countries, however, food imports compete with local food production systems, with a catastrophic effect on small- and medium-sized production units. Displaced producers abandon agricultural activity and shift to providing small, nonspecialized services, either in the same rural areas or in nearby urban settlements. All of this exacerbates inequality in agricultural income, but this varies among the different LAC countries.
     By the end of the period, there is still a considerable degree of social inequality, which is seen in differences in access to employment, food security, education, and health on the part of various social groups, such as large agricultural producers, small family producers, agricultural wageearners, and subsistence farmers. For some of the vulnerable groups at the start of the period—small family producers and wage-earners—the unequal access is considerably reduced. This result is a continuation of a trend initiated in the last decade of the 20th century, which was also strengthened by the more widespread prosperity of that period. The situation is also heterogeneous in the case of LAC countries. In a small number of countries, thanks to public policies and to the management capacity of food regulations and standards, the urban poor also regularly have access to adequate quantities of healthy food.

For countries highly dependent on food imports and with a more reduced per capita income, the prices of these products increase, creating urban food security problems.      In the less developed countries in the region where economic efficiency is low, environmental sustainability is not a concern for production systems, except in some highly local, traditional, or indigenous production systems. Deforestation,
intensive use of fertilizers and herbicides, expansion of arable land into natural ecosystems, and the consequent loss of biodiversity and neglect of soil fertility and water quality continue. In a few countries there are plans to guarantee greater productivity with environmentally friendly technologies.

3.4.1.2 2016-2030

3.4.1.2.1 Context of AKST systems and agricultural production Trade barriers are still absent, with the exception of healthrelated ones. The trend towards intense competition among countries increases during this period. The race to develop new agricultural products incorporating a high degree of
technology is stepped up, so that commodities lose the relative importance they had in world trade. The vast majority of markets consume products with little value added, which are frequently synthetically created in laboratories or generated by microorganisms. In many cases, commodities are only the raw material used to obtain these products. Some commodities are the principal sustenance of a few LAC communities, which preserve their identity and rituals.
     In addition to concerns over quality and safety of foods
prevalent in the previous period, now consumers—virtually
without exception, since the entire world population is more
highly educated than at the beginning of the century—de

 demand information on genetic manipulation and nanotechnological
methods incorporated in the foods. Regulations on these matters and procedures for evaluation of foods or agricultural-based nonfood products begin to be implemented by governments.
     Epidemics and epizooties increase in frequency and severity, as a result of the accumulated effects of the mismanagement of ecosystems, the introduction of new pests, the lack of action to adapt and mitigate the phenomena associated with climate change, and drastic changes in the pattern of land use and technology. The quality of export products is strictly monitored, as is that of foods sold in internal markets.

Climate change remains a concern, but shows signs of increasing, in temperature and in the frequency of extreme events. In LAC there is already a greater capacity to implement adaptation and mitigation measures, and this capacity grows throughout the period.

Transnational companies have increased powerover technological development. Traditional innovation polices become inadequate, since the state is no longer the main promoter of R&D activities. Moreover, problems emerge related to social development (such as job losses as a result of constant technological modernization), the environment, and excessive control over the life of the common citizen by these companies, which require governments to make institutional innovations. The situation of global climate change also requires new and vigorous policies designed to
protect the environment and modify agricultural production systems.
     The governments of the most developed countries in the region allocate a large part of their fiscal resources to implementing an unemployment insurance system. These governments also offer incentives to corporations not to lay off their employees as a result of technological changes, but to retrain them instead to operate the new technologies. In 2025, governments establish a goal for gradual reduction of the work week within the next ten years.
     Most of the countries in the region are in an acceptable situation from the standpoint of the their food quality standards and regulations and their enforcement. This is reflected in the reasonable efficiency of production systems, products, and services to meet the needs of their users. However, the systems are not necessarily environmentally sustainable, nor are the products, subproducts, and wastes in general, and this has a negative impact on the environment.

In general, stability and consistency among social, environmental, and foreign trade policies progress considerably for most LAC countries during this period, and various policies initiated in the course of the previous period also improve.
    Education of stakeholders in production systems under the responsibility of the public education system ensures a critical mass of educated persons capable of meeting the objectives of international competition. Strategic alliances between both national and international companies and
academic centers of excellence help improve the quality of public education at all levels.
     The more developed countries make major advances in bio- and nanotechnology. In biotechnology, there is a much better understanding of the systemic impacts of the manipufromCK