Category Archives: sustainability

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European farmers urgently need to diversify their activities, support from Horizon Europe

According to Horizon, the EU’s  research and innovation magazine, boosting biodiversity on farms is crucial to make them more resilient to climate change and protect future food security. Researchers suggest however it will not happen without change across the food supply chain from seed production to consumer.

Research suggests the farmers most interested in promoting biodiversity tend to be highly-educated organic farmers – often women. This is related closely to the work of the SEED project, which assessed qualification needs and the importance of improving farming qualifications and innovation and digitalisation in farming practices.

There are many possible solutions to increase plant diversity on farms, these include planting different crops, or different varieties of the same crop, combining trees, crops and livestock on the same farm. However these are not often used by farmers, despite growing awareness of the economic and environmental benefits diversity offers.

Soil health is boosted by crop rotation, or planting different crops together on the samefarming funding image land. Farms also need to become less reliant on chemical fertilisers. Having a mixture of plant structures on farms – trees, bushes, hedgerows, crops gives greater diversity. Diversity in farming also provides a buffer against pests. Some plants can be used to attract pests away from food crops, and diversity provides habitats for their natural enemies.

The EU has responded to these needs under Cluster 6  of the Horizon Europe funding programme, which addresses Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment. It aims to reduce environmental degradation and tackle the decline in biodiversity on land, waters and oceans, through transformative change including digitalisation.

The programme deals with natural resources, food security, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture, food systems, circular economy, sustainable bioeconomy and forestry.

Horizon Europe Cluster 6 programme details 

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Study: towards sustainable agriculture with biodiversity-friendly alternatives

A European Commission funded research study has examined sustainability of large scale intensive wheat farming and its impacts on the environment.

As intensive agriculture is associated with large-scale impacts on biodiversity, ecosystem services, food security and human health, it is important to shift to more sustainable, yet highly productive, farming practices.

The study assesses such practices in wheat, evaluating agricultural-management strategies at the field and landscape scales. The findings suggest that biodiversity-enhancing practices can support natural pest predation without use of agrochemicals — and that controlling pests and weeds by agrochemical means is less relevant than expected for final crop productivity.

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Building agricultural resilience: OECD News

Set in the context of climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme events, causing production losses, damaging land and assets in agricultural sectors, and threatening livelihoods around the world. THE OECD has published a new report on “Building Agricultural Resilience”.

The latest OECD-FAO report proposes a new approach to building agricultural resilience to natural hazard-induced disasters, drawing from country case studies. To address the looming threat of climate change to agriculture, the report finds that more good practices and policy actions are needed.

The report is available online in the OECD Library.

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Advancing Sustainable Agriculture: the role of advanced farm machines & solutions

Advancing sustainable agriculture in Europe is possible, but to do so, technology uptake needs to rapidly increase and digital farming has be further developed.

Advanced technologies and innovative sensing along with improved information technologies have provided the potential for transformations in agricultural. The practices development of modern digital advances require an understanding of traditional agricultural methods and processes, which need to be revisited as the drive to greater sustainability increases.

Mobile technology already plays a big role in the controlling and monitoring of crop irrigation systems. With the right equipment, it is easy for a farmer to control his irrigation systems just from a phone, tablet or computer, instead of visiting each field. Moisture sensors on the other hand are able to relay information about the moisture levels present in the ground at certain depths in the soil. This flexibility allows for more precise use and control of water and other inputs like fertiliser that are usually applied by irrigation pivots.

Farming is expected to be revolutionised in the coming years including the use of self-driving tractors or robots that perform many of the time-consuming tasks that are currently being done by people. The main advantage of smaller and lighter machinery is that they reduce soil erosion while enhancing soil compactness. This highly increases yields per acre of a farm.

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What farmers need to be modern climate-friendly and profitable

Farming feeds all of us — yet in rural communities, farmers are under pressure from mounting climate volatility and limited access to modern tools like the internet. How can agriculture stay resilient and grow with the times?

Watch the interview with Beth Ford, CEO of the farming co-op Land O’Lakes, as she shares her plan to establish broadband as a basic right nationwide in the USA and talks through an exciting range of climate-friendly innovations aimed at making farmers more sustainable and profitable.

Beth Ford interview photo

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SEED Webinar during European Green Week, June 7th 2021

 

“The carbon footprint of digital technologies in the AgriTech and Precision Agriculture sectors”

 

The European Environment Agency warns that “Europe’s environment is at a tipping point”. This event examines the situation in the agriculture sector, sharing practices as well as issues and challenges being faced. In the context of the European Green Deal and the European Commission’s ambition to adopt an EU Action Plan Towards a Zero Pollution Ambition for air, water and soil in 2021.

The webinar will introduce the SEED project which has created new qualifications and curricula incorporating digital farming and the tools and technologies for more sustainable practices. A panel of experts, that have implemented research or innovative practices in order to assess, monitor and reduce the energetic impact of digital transformation in agriculture, will present their work and discuss the zero pollution goals.

Panelists include:

Antonio Román

Innovation project technician
@ Innogestiona Ambiental (Spain)

The LiveAdapt Project: solutions for adaptation
to climate change of extensive livestock production

Karel Charvat

Plan4All, AgriHub.cz
Digital innovation centre & its contribution
to climate change & zero pollution

Cláudia Brites

Head of Sustainability @ Ecoinside
Sustainability in the agriculture sector

7th June 2021
11.00 AM CET

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Urban digital farming initiatives

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how susceptible countries are to turmoil in the global food supply. Small countries like Singapore have restricted space for agricultural development. One solution is to create vertical farming hubs. Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers. It often incorporates controlled-environment precision agriculture, which aims to optimise plant growth, and incorporate soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics. Find out more

Due to lack of space, the Singapore government has designated rooftops as agricultural spaces in the public interest. In 2020, the rooftops of nine multi-story car parks in public housing estates were made available for farming for instance. Now, one of Singapore’s oldest industrial estates, will be redeveloped in a phased manner into an agri-tech innovation hub.

In Europe urban farms have also been developed that involves the adoption of various emerging tech trends including robotics to make agriculture more productive, profitable and sustainable. With this advancement, it is possible to grow and deliver high-quality food with the minimal waste within an area of a smaller footprint. 

Find out more about the revolutionary practices being used in Europe

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Smart digital farming at Van den Borne potatoes

Using huge amounts of data collected by all kinds of different sensors, Van den Borne potato farm manages to use the land more efficiently than most other potato farms. They know exactly which areas of soil need more nutrients, where pests are eating leaves, or which plants aren’t getting enough sunlight – and they are able to act accordingly. Van den Borne recently started their ‘own’ airport called Agri Drone Port Reusel to be able to legally fly the drones that they want to use for monitoring the approximately 450 ha farm.

The third-generation farm has become like a testing ground for technology that has been repurposed for use in agriculture. Because the company has become such an outspoken advocate for so-called precision farming, scientists and other agricultural innovators know who to reach out to when they have some cool idea they’d like to test.

Thanks to the sensors, and the stack of data analytics tools that are being used, the farmer can be exactly where he needs to be, when he needs to be there. And the best thing: He’s not afraid to share his knowledge. Jacob Van den Borne actually preaches the use of technology in agriculture – which is probably why some people call him ‘the pope of precision farming’!!

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