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Post-Malthusian Dilemmas in Agriculture 4.0

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Fostering Innovation for Agriculture 4.0

Abstract

This chapter contains an exhaustive description of the changes that occurred in the steps of agriculture 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 to 4.0, and the general claim of the work, which is, that “Agriculture 4.0” requires adhering to a different regulatory paradigm. An analysis is presented showing that the current network of separate sums of regulatory treaties is not the adequate tool that can answer to the demand of this new scenario.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, the term “genetic resources” means any “genetic material of actual or potential value. Genetic material is any material of plant, animal, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity. Examples include material of plant, animal, or microbial origin, such as medicinal plants, agricultural crops and animal breeds.”

  2. 2.

    “Improperly” here means that the term NBT is applied to techniques that not only are not related to each other, but some of which cannot be considered “new” at all, such as rootstocks.

  3. 3.

    Gene editing: Genome editing means the process of making accurate and specific sequence changes in the DNA of cells and living organisms.

  4. 4.

    A leading international seed company even had 15 Nobel prizes among its staff. The experimental development and regulations to obtain the commercial authorization for a single transgenic event in plants requires an investment of around USD 100 million.

  5. 5.

    The concept of “Industry 4.0” or also “fourth Industrial Revolution” is widespread. These terms reflect a new way of organizing and improving the efficiency of means of production via interconnected machine and systems where information is the link for processes. The term Agriculture 4.0 as used in this text only means what is defined here.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Intellectual Property Centre, Austral University, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Miguel Angel Rapela

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  1. Miguel Angel Rapela
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Rapela, M.A. (2019). Post-Malthusian Dilemmas in Agriculture 4.0. In: Fostering Innovation for Agriculture 4.0. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32493-3_1

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