In such a complex scenario, I believe its good to always distinguish myths from the facts.
Let us start with an issue that concerns everyone closely, and not only those of us who are involved with agriculture. The challenge we have before us is that of a sustainable planet, able to feed 10 billion people with healthy and quality food. To meet this challenge, it is necessary that the stakeholders of the “food chain” join forces to make a reflection without prejudice. Everyone, from the farmer who organizes production to the policymakers who draft regulations, up until the decisive player, the consumer, who decides what to buy at the supermarket. At stake is our future and, especially, the future of our children and the world in which they will live.
- Food production is possible without undermining the health of the land
This reflection must be made with an ethical approach, certainly, but also pragmatic, based on facts, that gives life to a real culture of sustainability.
The starting point is a question: how will we succeed in feeding 10 billion people without damaging the environment to increase the surface area used for farming? Producing organically is commonly considered sustainable, but it does not fully represent the right answer. Usually this term, organic, is associated with sustainability and respect for the environment, as if going back to the past represents a miraculous cure-all. Instead, it is better to talk about maintaining constant agricultural surface area, worked using innovative solutions and cutting-edge technologies.
Going back to the farming of sixty years ago would mean halving the yield of our fields, not increasing them. Instead, there is a third way between the agriculture of today and yesterday, between the massive use of chemicals and a mere return to the past: putting science at the service of nature. This is the agriculture we believe in.
Valagro’s mission is to create a sustainable future for people and the environment through innovation.
Our concept of sustainability is anything but abstract; it is the commitment we have always made to bringing development and well-being using fewer resources. Instead, organic production/farming in some ways represents the rejection of innovation because it looks to the past without asking questions about the future.
We must always remember that technology is neither good nor bad; it depends on how you use it. A vision that sees everything that is natural as good and everything that is synthetic as bad represents a misleading simplification of reality. It is very important to be informed consumers, aware of what we are putting on our tables, and sometimes an aspect that is overlooked is the sustainability of the supply chain: even if you are buying at kilometre 0, some products used in organic farming have a negative footprint. Thanks to science, it is possible to synthesize a molecule perfectly identical to the natural one, in this way safeguarding sustainability and essentially reducing the environmental impact.
Therefore, consumers, the final and decisive link in the food production supply chain, must go beyond simplifications and clichés. They must be able to inform themselves correctly, reflecting, discussing and in the end choosing in an intelligent and responsible fashion. Not only does the media play a fundamental role in guiding the consumer, but also the world of politics (national and international) which in general we would like to buy more attentive to the health of citizens than short-term consensus.
Overall, the European Union seems to have undertaken – albeit not without some contradictions, as I explain in a previous post – the right path to make our planet more sustainable. But the Old Continent cannot remain isolated. A global and integrated approach to sustainability is indispensable, while unfortunately in many parts of the world we see countries that are moving in the opposite direction, giving the priority to measures in their national and short-term interest.
