Delivering Sustainable Agriculture

One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is climate change, made worse by the emission of unsustainably high quantities of greenhouse gases when fossil fuels are burnt. At the same time there is a need to feed an ever growing global population (six billion and counting), protect the environment and biodiversity, and maintain and promote the economic well-being of rural communities and around the world.

This challenge is complex but it is vital that all sectors, including the farming sector, look at how they can help to play their part in finding solutions. What is clear is that to be successful, farmers will need to access new technologies, and biotechnology is one of the tools which we can use to help us tackle all these issues.

Farmers are already beginning to experience some of the benefits of the technology, while a wide range of new and innovative products are in the pipeline. More information and examples can be found on the relevant pages.

Environmental benefits – agricultural biotechnology can help to tackle climate change, by reducing fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions, by reducing soil erosion, as well as enabling crops to be grown in increasingly variable climatic conditions.

Consumer benefits – certain GM crops can be grown in developing countries providing farmers with an ability to earn a living and offer potential health benefits such as through the supply of iron or provitamin A in rice grains.

Economic benefits – enabling farmers to use new technology can help them to compete in an increasingly competitive global market, whether they are from developing countries or the UK.