The more direct links to end-users of the product, in turn, means the need to increase flexibility on the part of the producer. Products constantly change, which means constant adjustment on the part of the producers. Moving from a commodity to a product does not mean just changing from one comfortable set of nuts in terms of what you produce and how you produce it into another. It means constant adjustment and constant change. While independence was rewarded in the old system, so one did not give away one's comparative advantage, networks become crucial in the new economy.
Flexible networks facilitate both product identification and establish marketing channels.
Whereas in the old model, competition was valued, in the new economy teamwork and cooperation increase competitive advantage. Finally, success depends on continuously learning and assessing alternatives, not just in knowing the answers. The traditional model of research is simply not agile enough or responsive enough to respond to farmer-identified priorities, particularly the priorities of small and limited resource farmers who cannot compete in the traditional commodity model of the old economy, where the only way to make money was to get bigger and bigger and more and more specialized. In working with farmers involved in moving sustainably into the 21st century, the research goals are very different. First, these farmers want research that transforms agriculture.