Agriculture's Future: Feeding the World Without Costing the Earth
Agriculture operates on a vast scale, with massive tractors and equipment cultivating land worldwide, 365 days a year. While this industrialized approach has sustained us for decades, climate change, soil degradation, and rising input costs necessitate a shift.
Experts, speaking at Newsweek's The Future of Food & Agriculture Forum, envision a transition to more sustainable practices, including regenerative and climate-smart agriculture.
"In five to 10 years, ideally, we stop calling it regenerative agriculture, climate-smart agriculture... it just becomes agriculture." – Allison Lin, Global Vice President of Healthy Planet at Mars.
Data shows regenerative farming can provide the needed yields while supporting farmer incomes, according to Lin. She believes this approach will eventually become the norm.
Governments Play a Key Role
In Brazil, efforts are underway to promote sustainable agriculture. Natasha Santos from Bayer Crop Science highlights the country's Eco Invest program.
"The Brazilian government makes public money available to privately owned banks... to scale up projects and restore millions of hectares of land." – Natasha Santos.
The program aims to mobilize billions of dollars in private investment, potentially transforming vast areas.
Farming also extends beyond food. Plants provide medicine, perfumes, and other products. Sustainable agriculture is crucial for these industries as well.
Michal Benmayor, Vice President of R&D at a leading agricultural company, emphasizes the importance of sustainable practices:
"We have over 500 ingredients in small quantities, and they’re living supply chains... We need to protect them."