KNOWLEDGE BASED ECONOMY VS. SUSTAINABLE AGRO-FOOD SYSTEMS; BEST PRACTICES

Abstract

Knowledge based economy, found in more than one fields, started – considering agriculture – from a transition premise towards sustainable agro-food systems. The conceptual boundaries between the two major paradigms on sustainable development of agriculture, namely the agro-industrial paradigm and the integrated territorial paradigm, is used nowadays for teaching and research purpose, as a comparison basis with an ideal case, mostly because we only have hybrid models which tend to coexist, always improving the food and goods production, also promoting innovative agro-food systems. This paper highlights the idea that the establishment of an institutional and legal framework, will have a catalytic role acting as an engine of economic growth and boosting the development of agricultural systems by mobilizing entrepreneurs in agriculture and related areas. In this regard, we present best practices of economic actors engaged in meta network of agriculture clusters.

Keywords

• Sustainable development
• Agriculture paradigm
• South East Europe agro-food networks