The Forum for the Future of Agriculture (FFA2010) has called on European leaders to urgently tackle climate change and food security challenges ahead of fears over the widely referenced 2050 target.
The forum, which brings together high level figures from agriculture, industry, EU politics, national and international institutions and NGOs, also highlighted the vital role that farmers and land managers have to play in this.
The forum argued that the EU must now step up its efforts to persuade world leaders of the need for a meaningful agreement to limit global temperature increases to 2°C.
FA2010 highlighted unresolved issues concerning trade, access to technology and subsidy policies as pressures on agricultural producers. While the FFA2010 expected the world to produce enough food by 2050, it asked how much it would cost, how many would be able to afford it and how much more could be produced sustainably. It also maintains that food demand be properly assessed in the context of hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
The forum called on the EU and its members to make the Common Agricultural Policy more stable, predictable and flexible, helping the the availability of new agricultural technologies and to maintain reasonable farm income levels in order to foster ecosystem management and slow down the rural exodus.
Syngenta chief operating officer John Atkin said:"Agriculture is part of the climate change solution but it means that we must grow more on existing farmland rather than expanding into natural habitats, which are vital for carbon storage and biodiversity.
Through farmer training and access to technology, we can sustainably intensify agricultural production, enabling farmers to grow enough affordable food without damaging the environment.”
