Sustainable Agriculture: Opportunities and Challenges

Cultivated soil, that which allows us to produce pasta, rice, bread, and vegetables, is only a few decimeters deep, and amazingly, for every 2.5 centimeters of new soil to be generated, it takes around 500 years. The erosion rate of cultivated fields is 10-to-a-100 times higher than the rate of soil formation, and as such, it can take centuries for the degraded lands to be productive again. What’s more, almost a third of arable land on our planet has disappeared in the last 40 years. This data would already be enough to acknowledge the damages caused by intensive agriculture, which incidentally is the world’s largest industry, employing more than one billion people and generating over US$1.3 trillion of food annually. Not to mention that agriculture is directly responsible for up to 8.5% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with a further 14.5% resulting from land use variation, such as deforestation in developing countries and methane produced by livestock. Emissions are further increased by crops and processed derivatives which are airborne, shipped by sea or by road for thousands of kilometers before being sold (and not always consumed). In fact, the US Food and Drug Administration estimates that 30-40% of the food supply in the United States is thrown away, and food waste is the main category of goods that end up in landfills.

Intensive Agriculture

In a world moving towards sustainable practices, the intensive farming system appears to be highly unsustainable, the main reason being the massive use of fertiliz- ers, which in the long run are proven to degrade the soil rather than nourish it.

Intensive agriculture, which aims to maximize the yield per square meter, minimizes the need for labour, and therefore the cost. The practice was developed between the end of the 1960s and and into the 1990s as a response to the exponential growth in the global population. Hencforth, the need to feed around 7 billion people together with sudden technological advancement and the dynamics of the capitalistic market further exacerbate the use of intensive practices.

Perhaps more alarmingly, in order to force nature’s rhythms, intensive agriculture extensively uses synthetic pesticides and chemicals that make the soil more fertile. Yet, in the long run, intensive agriculture has gradually led to more fragile soil, a loss of biodiversity due to large-scale monocultures, as well as water pollution and ammonia emissions in the air because of nitrogen fertilizers. Land drainage, desertification, and drainage of aquifers due to the massive use of water are other wellknown consequences of intensive agriculture.

Similar circumstances led to the gradual implementation of a new approach to producing and consuming food products, better known as ‘green agriculture’.

GREEN AGRICULTURE – CAN IT BE A GAME CHANGER?

Sustainable agriculture hinges on the utmost respect for natural resources and workers. It comprehends eco-friendly practices to enhance ecological models and socially responsible processes to ensure food security. In doing so, it ensues people’s health, human rights, and social equity of those who work in the sector. In this view, the term “sustainability” does not refer only to the environment but also to the social sphere.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) drew up the five cornerstones of sustainable agriculture, listed below:

1. The increase of productivity through a change in agricultural practices

2. The protection of natura resources

3. The improvement of livelihoods by fostering inclusive economic growth

4. The transformation of production models

5. The need to adapt the sector’s governance to the new challenges through a series of rules that make it possible to balance public and private, ensuring transparency and fairness

In pursuing these goals, emerging technologies and artificial intelligence can offer a fundamental contribution to an industry that has traditionally remained more sheltered from innovation, being one of the sectors most linked with a traditional, conservative model. Yet today, various sustainable agriculture solutions are being tested worldwide that are challenging key players in the industry to keep pace. An example is the organic farming model, which employs only natural substances and fertilizers and avoids the excessive exploitation of natural resources.

Another model is known as “biodynamic agriculture”, the basic principle of which is the care for terrestrial ecosystems via reference to cosmic laws such as the moon’s phases and the activation of life in the soil. The goal is to ensure that plants self-regulate and adapt as best as possible to external conditions. No chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used, instead being replaced by natural solutions that promote soil fertility.

Another new technique is “permaculture”, that is the set of agricultural practices oriented to the natural maintenance of soil fertility along with an integrated design system that intertwines themes of architecture, economy, ecology, and legal strategies for businesses and communities.

New sustainable approaches to green agriculture were at the core of COP26 held in Glasgow in November 2021. Discussions here focused on accelerating innovations in sustainable agriculture and resulted in the AIM4C agreement, which was led by the United States and the United Arab Emirates. This agreement addresses climate change and global hunger by uniting participants in a mission to increase investment in climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation over a five years’ span (2021 – 2036).

POST-COP INVESTMENT

Other initiatives that emerged from COP26 include an investment of $575 million to Sub-Saharan Africa to improve sustainable agriculture, while the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged US$315 million over the next three years to support the CGIAR’s climate-related work. Half of the Gates Foundation investment will go into supporting climate adaptation initiatives undertaken through the new CGIAR portfolio, which aims to simplify partnerships, knowledge, and resources to accelerate innovation in the agricultural sector.

The current world population will grow to an estimated 9.7 billion people in 2050. While the world population is increasing, the amount of arable land per capita is rapidly diminishing. Each person currently has 0.21 hectares at their disposal, resulting in 0.15 hectares of essential food resources per capita in 2050. Such perspectives make green agriculture an essential necessity that must be implemented now.