EXPO 2015

11 June 2015

Hans-Joerg Lutzeyer RTD/F3

The role of organic farming in global food and nutrition security 1

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"Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life"

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"Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life"

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EU EXPO Scientific Steering Committeelaunched on 21st March 2014

Contributions:

• Discussion document with European priorities for research, development & innovation (already published)

• During EXPO further develop the Discussion document to be upgraded as a global agenda (should be adopted on 15 October)

Chairman: Franz Fischler

11 Experts of high repute: Jo Swinnen (BE), Joachim von Braun (DE), Hannelore Daniel (DE), Maria Helena Saarela (FI), Béatrice Darcy-Vrillon (FR), Peter Heffernan (IR), Claudia Sorlini (IT), Esther Kok (NL), Ewa Jakubczyk (PL), Tim Benton (UK), KatherinaHedlund (SE)

Research and global food security

Tim BentonUK Champion for Global Food Security & Professor of Ecology, University of Leeds

tim.benton@foodsecurity.ac.uk

@timgbenton

What is food security?

Food security occurs when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life

Food matters in many ways

…and agri-food accounts for more land-use than any other sector, more employment, and, arguably more pollution and biodiversity loss

THE ISSUES

Drivers and constraints

A person’s “share” of land is shrinking but each of us wants more from it

15 gallons

Historic yield growth is faltering around the world…

Fig 1. Time series data on wheat yields per ha for an area in Scotland, dating back to 1700. The

data are the red points, with a “smoother” (a spline curve, with smoothness fitted using cross-

validation) shown in black, with the standard error of the fit being shown by dotted lines). (a)

shows the whole time series, (b) shows from 1940 onwards, with the smoother projected forwards

to 2050. Since about 1985, the rate of annual increase in yield has declined.

If demand and yield growth continues as now…

• Demand predictions suggest global production to 2050 will be greater than all human history to date

• This will require 120% more water; 42% more cropland and loss of 14% more forest

• This will emit enough carbon dioxide to create 2 degrees of global warming

• Agriculture and associated land-use change is the biggest threat to biodiversity

• Food-related NCDs – e.g. diabetes –will rise

NCC 2014

Role of report

• To stimulate debate about:

– the breadth of issues, and

– the role of research and innovation in meeting the challenges

• Independent committee of experts

KEY MESSAGES1. Need for research and innovation in many areas.

KEY MESSAGES

2. We need to do things differently

“Systems” and “interdisciplinary” thinking

waste

KEY MESSAGES

3. Align and co-ordinate better

Coordinated and strategic research

• Virtuous spiral:– Horizon scanning to set

the agenda

– Research into use

– Societal change

• Need for greater national and international alignment

NEXT STEPS

“Discussion of discussion document”: Public consultation

equityhealth wasteQuality& safety SI

Land-scapes trade

imp

ort

ance

During the Expo

• Contribute to public consultation until 1 Sept

• Contribute with your perspective

• Final event and report on 15 Oct on some suggested policy responses

Conclusions

• We can:– grow more food and reduce its

environmental impact, – eat better and more healthily and reduce

waste, and– make the food system more equitable

• There is no “magic bullet” but scope for developments in many areas

• Demand and supply side innovations are perhaps equally needed– Social change perhaps as important as

scientific innovation

• Need for more trans-disciplinary, strategic and aligned research to address challenges

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The role of organic farming in global food and nutrition security• Built on resilience of systems, less dependent on external

inputs

• Address trade-offs in a system approach:

• less environmental impact

• less biodiversity loss

• responsible supply chains (G7 Elmau conclusions)

• Food systems in the center of public debate – what consequences for a research agenda?

• ERA-Net Cofund: Organic farming and food production

• 13 topics of 64 (SFS and RR) with wording: "both

conventional and organic" or similar

• SFS-7-2016/2017: Organic Breeding – Increasing

the competitiveness of the organic breeding and farming

sectors

• SFS-8-2017: Organic Inputs – Contentious inputs in

organic farming Thematic networks follow the multi-actor

approach for greater user acceptance and focus on

application potential

Organic in Horizon 2020Work programme 2016-2017

Thank you!

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