In conjunction with this year’s “Summer Academy” the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU) has released a statement on sustainable agriculture, from which excerpts follow:
Contemporary agriculture, seen by some segments of society as taking an appropriate approach to the implementation of technological progress which has enabled corresponding increases in efficiency, is strongly criticized in other quarters as industrialized agriculture. Currently, a clear delineation between factually supported criticism and emotion-driven opinion appears to be beyond reach. It is therefore of major importance, and an essential step toward a future in which a generally accepted model of sustainable development is recognized, to clearly identify “sustainability deficits” in agriculture; define related goals based on an informed decision-making process; and develop practical approaches designed to produce sustainable agricultural solutions.
Sustainable agriculture refers to the securing of the food supply and food quality for the entire human population, while preserving soil productivity and species diversity permanently, based on global standards and a multigenerational perspective. Additionally, this implies the reduction of negative environmental impacts to the minimum necessary, natural animal husbandry, securing the economic viability of agricultural holdings, and the creation of just and satisfactory living conditions for agricultural workers within the context of their society. From an ethical perspective the hierarchy of usage is not subject to debate. Foodstuffs have priority over (animal) feedingstuffs, and the latter over utilization of produce as raw materials or, finally, in biomass energy production.
Nearly everywhere on the planet, agricultural practice still falls short of this conceptual model to varying degrees. The declining nutrient content of many soils in Africa, the salinization and overuse of fossil water reserves in arid regions, and the nitrogen surpluses in East Asia are examples of the problems involved. In Central Europe, by global standards a favorable agricultural region, sustainability issues of prime importance include biodiversity loss in the agricultural landscape, and the nitrogen surpluses in conventional land management. However organic farming too, which, based on these criteria, meets sustainability requirements very well, still confronts unsolved sustainability challenges in the form of systematic deterioration of phosphorus- and potassium levels in the soil, and inadequate land use efficiency, which can negatively impact unused natural landscapes in cases of rapid expansion.
The future of global agriculture appears to be characterized by a major challenge. A strong increase in worldwide demand for food – involving expectations of both high quality and low prices – and simultaneous rising demand for (animal) feedingstuffs, and for raw materials for industrial use and energy production, stand in opposition to limited land resources. For reasons of sustainability, changes in land use such as the conversion of spaces with natural ecosystems (rain forests, savannahs, moors) are ruled out due to the associated release of greenhouse gases and the negative effects on biodiversity.
The logical consequences for future action to be drawn from this dilemma: satisfying the additional demand within existing agricultural spaces and –at the same time-- reducing damage in water, soil, air, species and biotopes to manageable long-term proportions. This enormous task can only be successfully carried out through sustainable agricultural policies whose final contours are, as yet, only vaguely recognizable and thus urgently in need of rapid development. The agricultural paradigm that emerges will necessarily be characterized by high yields, but also by simultaneous adherence to high standards of sustainability. Any conceivable solution must take full advantage of biological and technological progress.
The DBU envisions the following specific fields of activity:
1. Limitation of land use change
2. Stopping biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes
3. Improving animal husbandry practices
4. Reducing losses in reactive nitrogen compounds
5. Closing nutrient cycles
6. Differentiated use of grasslands
7. Raising consumer awareness
