A paradigm for persistence : a vital challenge for the agricultural academy

The further economic development of modern, multi-functional and responsible agricultural and food systems must be set within a global context of ecological sustainability and social responsibility. This presents all of those who are concerned with such development, with a much more complex challenge than that posed by the relatively straightforward goals of the Green Revolution to increase production of staple grains in the pursuit of food security on a national scale. It is thus crucial that leaders within institutions of research and higher education in agriculture and related disciplines across the entire world come to terms with the intellectual, moral, practical and political challenges that are fundamental to this systemic change of focus. The situation demands nothing less than a paradigmatic revolution in education, research and extension with implications for the adoption of a very different strategic role for universities with respect to how they critically engage with the multi-stakeholders of entire agri-food systems.