REALIZING BASIC RESEARCH IN APPLIED ENVIRONMENTAL-RESEARCH PROJECTS

Political pressure is exerted in many countries to feces agricultural and environmental research on market-driven applications, rather than on basic research. This can become a real problem because our expertis e needs to be continuously fed with new ideas originating from basic r esearch. Rather than rigidly oppose the trend, we advocate research pr ocedures where applied and basic research logically fit together in so -called research chains. More time should be spent in any project on d efining the most efficient research chain in close interaction with st akeholders, comparing relatively simple (and inexpensive) procedures u sing expert knowledge with more complicated land expensive) ones that mag include basic research using sophisticated methodology. Research c hains are illustrated for cage studies on soil acidification and preci sion agriculture, while chains are described for organic farming, Basi c research is defined differently and more effectively when it is part of a research chain, as compared with independent formulation. Inform ation technology plays an increasingly important role in the evolving interactive research paradigm where the former linear research model i s replaced by the hourglass model, which requires an interdisciplinary research approach and defines basic research on issues where existing knowledge is clearly inadequate. Application of simulation modeling a nd geostatistics allows expression in terms of risks that threshold va lues of sustainability indicators are exceeded. Regulators have the pr ime responsibility to decide which risks are acceptable, Researchers o ffer options rather than judgements. In addition to realizing research chains including basic research, independent funding for basic resear ch in promising future areas of work is necessary as well.