interactions and collaboration with the less developed coun­tries is also being encouraged. Researchers collaborate with a broader range of organizations and disciplines. Problem-oriented, demand-driven approaches prevail, and there is a great deal of research integration (multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary work, systems approach). Incentives are being used to attract young students to science and technol­ogy, especially the environmental and agricultural sciences. Efforts are being made to promote new scientific fields in universities and to renew interest in important fields that have been ignored.
     AKST   increasingly   serves   homogeneous   consumer preferences and diets. Lifestyles and social awareness are boosting the demand for convenience and functional foods. Although the demand for organic products is going up, the new technical, convenience-led food solutions (e.g., ready-meals) clearly predominate. Efforts are being made to in­crease national and international budgets for more research and cooperation world-wide concerning access, control and distribution of inputs. Research investments are concentrated on global and regional centers of excellence conducting both basic and applied research. Emphasis is on investments that support a knowledge- and bio-based economy.
     In the field of climate change mitigation and adapta­tion, policies related to spatial planning stimulate the reduc­tion of greenhouse gas emissions and protect NAE against climate change. Spatial planning has led, for instance, to the diffusion of new technologies such as floating green­houses (e.g., in the Netherlands in response to the rising sea level), non-animal meats, or low-emission animal farms (to avoid pollution) and roof farming (natural cooling in urban areas). At the same time, conventional agricultural techniques are being further improved with considerable ef­fort to heighten resource use efficiency, especially for water, nutrients and energy (precise provision in time and space). In many regions, farms specialize in either specific livestock or arable farming, depending on their local soil and climatic conditions.
     Relatively inefficient cultivation of biofuel crops e.g., rapeseed oil, barley, sunflower, has been replaced by second generation biofuel production. Agriculture is both an energy producer and an efficient energy consumer. However, the energy-producing capacity of agriculture is outweighed by other more centralized and technology-intensive renewable forms of energy such as artificial photosynthesis (combining sub-processes of photosynthesis), a favored source in large-scale energy labs. Many farms are able to cover their energy needs and costs by producing biofuels and installing eolian and solar parks on their fields. New knowledge allows for the sustainable production of biofuels and innovative, envi­ronmentally-friendly farming systems.
     Results from research into knowledge-intensive technol­ogies supported by information technologies (such as GIS, remote sensing, GPS-controlled robots, detailed soil data­bases, etc.) allow wide implementation of precision farming. Food processing is taking place in new energy- and/or labor-saving forms, such as intelligent greenhouses (with virtually no labor) and multistory food factories—as developed in the Netherlands (agrometropoles). GMOs are widely accepted (but less in EU-15 than in America and Eastern Europe) and

play a significant role in reducing pesticide use and emis­sions from agriculture to the environment.
     Research is also done to better understand the concerns and circumstances that influence consumer attitudes and choices. This information leads to better models of consumer preferences. Advances in research improve the nutritional balance of foods and optimize nutritional and genotype in­teractions in crops and livestock. Better understanding of the system leads to improvements in regulatory frameworks.

5.6.1.3 Local food-supply led AKST
Local food-supply AKST is a multi-actor system with little coordination between organizations: the AKST systems in North America, the European Union and the non-EU East­ern European countries are very different from one another. The AKST systems manage to contribute to improved nu­trition and human health at national level, but most rural areas are driven by urban economies. The importance of agriculture in rural activity differs between regions. At the international level, AKST systems have little impact on hun­ger, poverty and environmental sustainability.
     No coherent research, innovation and IPR policies are designed in NAE, and the policies there are, are not always consistent at the national level. Each country has its own distinctive educational and cultural features. Efforts are be­ing made to improve secondary education and to put stu­dents through the first years of universities, but not many students become science majors. The quality and quantity of research personnel is deteriorating.
     In most countries, the access, control and distribution of knowledge, science and technology remains linear. Funda­mental research, applied research, extension and education are done in separate organizations. There is little synergy among the many different types of organizations involved. A few large private companies have their own research ca­pacities and are highly integrated. However, as their invest­ments are relatively small, they cannot influence the global research agenda. In the USA and Canada, land grand uni­versities are fading away because of the competition for scarce funding. In the countries of the European Union, governments continue to provide some funding for public research to avoid conflicts with farmers and researchers, but funds given to KST in real terms are below what they were at the beginning of the century. Local universities and pub­lic research organizations continue to provide public goods; however they are often in conflict with private companies and accuse them of privatizing knowledge. In Russia and non-EU Eastern European countries, AKST is not a prior­ity; the little research that is done focuses on the large-scale cereal-vegetable farming systems.
     The size of holdings varies greatly which explains the great inequalities in access, control and distribution of in­puts and capital. Family farms are still the most prevalent, but they have limited access to inputs and capital.
     Knowledge generation mainly concerns conventional food production and protection. Except in North America, little is done to investigate or use genetically modified crops and animals. Research tends to ignore growing problems such as water scarcity, soil depletion and socioeconomic vi­ability of agricultural systems.