A Call to Europe on Food Productivity
On World Food Day: A Call to Europe to Connect the Dots on Food Productivity
Agriculture, Land use, Biodiversity, Climate Change and Trade are critically linked
Brussels - As the world’s biggest food importer Europe has an enormous influence on global food markets, prices, availability and land use. An area outside of Europe the size of Germany is already dedicated to European food needs. The FAO calls this a ‘land grab’.
The Humboldt Institute1 has recently demonstrated that further reducing productivity in Europe will lead to rapid expansion of the land dedicated to our food needs in the developing world, further alienating local food supplies, while accelerating the destruction of forests and other wild habitat .
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is agricultural encroachment, which constitutes agriculture’s most significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions and the destruction of biodiversity.
The FAO projects that global agriculture must increase food production 70 % by 2050 to feed a growing population. In the face of this unrelenting pressure, increasing agricultural productivity on the existing farmland base is urgently required to protect the environment, to mitigate climate change, to conserve water, to promote biodiversity and to feed ourselves.
“We are up against a critical challenge to strike a healthy balance between increasing food production and maintaining a healthy environment and wildlife biodiversity”, said Friedhelm Schmider, Director General of the European Crop Protection Association.
Schmider asks, do we bring more uncultivated land, wherever it might be, into production to provide the necessary increase in Europe’s food supply? Or, do we sustainably increase food production on land already cultivated, utilizing advanced technology applications including the careful use of pesticides, appropriate environmental stewardship methods for soil protection and good water management; at the same time, instituting measures to increase biodiversity?
“We don’t think there’s any argument about which choice is best: avoid putting more land under cultivation anywhere and focus on sustainably increasing agricultural productivity. It makes productive, sustainable agriculture the best option for feeding the population, mitigating climate, protecting the environment and preserving biodiversity”.
Improving European agricultural productivity will require investment in science as well as policies that uphold EU agricultural competiveness. In this way agriculture will also remain a pillar of the EU economy.
“Our industry will certainly continue to invest in research and development to meet consumer needs, however policy makers, whether in regard to regulation or CAP, need embrace technological innovation and a global perspective while training European farmers to use technology sustainably. This is the winning combination for people, planet and purse!”.
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1 EU Agricultural Production And Trade: Can More Efficiency Prevent Increasing ‘Land-Grabbing’ Outside Of Europe? Humboldt University Berlin, April 2010
