Sébastien CrepieuxEuropean CommissionDirectorate-General Research and InnovationProject Officer, Unit E4 : Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Aquacualture

Are conservation, development of biodiversity and sustainable farming goals for research?

Seeds for a sustainable future

31 May 2011

Crop production in Europe

40 % (172 m ha) of the EU’s land area is farmed.

Utilised agricultural area:

60 % arable land

33% permanent grasslands

6% permanent crops

Annual agricultural output worth €360 billion

58% from crop products

42% from animal products

13.7 m agricultural holdings:

40% crop farming,

22% livestock

38% mixed-farming

* Figures from EUROSTAT 2007

Diverse patterns of crop production across Europe.

Agricultural activities impact significantly on environment, economy and social cohesion, not just in rural areas.

Challenges to current agriculture

Population growth + changing consumption patterns

Food production to be increased by 70% by 2050

FOOD SECURITY

Increased environmental instability / climate change effects DIVERSIFICATION, INCREASED

RESILIENCE OF FARMING SYSTEMS

Diminishing finite resources (e.g. soil, water, nutrients, energy)

RESOURCE EFFICIENCY, LOW INPUT PRODUCTION

Competing demands for land use, e.g. through increased non-food production and urbanisation

SUSTAINABLE LAND USE MANAGEMENT, MULTIPLE USES OF AGRICULTURAL (BY)-PRODUCTS

Main global drivers for change and associated challenges

INNOVATION (biological, technological, management)

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FOR A SUSTAINABLE BIOECONOMY

Collaborative Research Frontier Research

Human Potential

Research Capacity

European support to foster agricultural research and the overall bioeconomy sector

Total Specific Programmes: Total 53 billion €

€7.460m

€4.217m

ERC

Infrastructures

32,4

FP7 : 2007-2013. Theme 2 : Around 300 m€ / year

10 Themes of the Cooperation Programme

KBBE - Activity 2.2“Fork to farm”: Food, health and well being

KBBE - Activity 2.1Sustainable food production and management of biological resources from land, forest and aquatic environments

KBBE - Activity 2.3Life sciences, biotechnology and biochemistry for sustainable non-food products and processes

Theme 2 - Structure

Knowledge/Discovery

Translation

Application/Innovation

Policy development

http://cordis.europa.eu/ fp7/kbbe/home_en.html

Are conservation, development of biodiversity and sustainable farming goals for research?

Some examples

Within first 5 calls for proposals :

55 projects (covering sustainable plant production systems)

180m€ EU contribution

Plant research in FP7 KBBE programme Outcome from calls 2007 – 2011

Some funded projects:

- (1) Biodiversity, low input farming, plant genetic resources

- (2) Breeding and use of genetic resources

- (3) Sustainable plant production

PGR Secure project (website under development)

The project aims at improving the conservation and use of European Crop Wild Relatives (CWR). To this end, it will investigate and test novel genotypic and

phenotypic characterisation techniques, develop exemplar national and European CWR inventories and conservation strategies and facilitate breeders' access to

CWR genetic resources.

Consortium:9 acad. / 1 private partnersCoord: Birmingham Univ.N. Maxted

EU-funding:3M€ /3,5 yearsStart: Feb. 2011

Genera:Avena, Beta, Brassica Medicago

There is not a single project on breeding that does not emphasize the role and importance of genetic resources

Genetic resources : Conservation, description, use…

Direct uselow input farming, organic

Use in pre-breeding - breeding programsDiscover new alleles

Private and public breeding programmes

Release and registration of new varieties

(conventional breeding)

Validation of genes / effects

(2) Breeding, conservation and use of genetic diversity

Ex: DROPSADAPTAWHEAT

ABSTRESS

(3) Sustainable plant production:

• Legume Futures: “Legumes: key multifunctional legume crops for an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly future European agriculture”reintroduce legumes in rotation for their multiple benefits (www.legumefutures.eu)

• Multisward: “Multifunctional grasslands for sustainable and competitive ruminant production systems and the delivery of ecosystem services”Promote the sustainable and beneficial use of swards in European farming – roles, utility and expectations (www.multiswards.eu)

• Cover Crops: “Development of cover crop and mulch systems for sustainable crop production”The introduction of cover crops, catch crops and (living) mulch into cropping systems is known to have beneficial effects in particular on soil improvement (e.g. organic matter and soil structure, nitrogen production, soil microbial activity…), pest management and weed suppression (…)

• (+ many others, including WP2012 : Managing semi-natural habitats and on-farm biodiversity to optimise ecological services …

Balanced approach : Competitivity and production but with the sustainability criteria

• Are conservation, development of biodiversity and sustainable farming goals for research? Clearly yes !

• Genetic diversity is a driver for sustainability of agricultural systems and food security

• Strategies for agricultural genetic resources need to consider

- Genetic diversity at various levels (plant - crop - agro-ecosystem)

- Measures for in-situ and ex-situ conservation

- The use : understand the evolution of diversity, molecular basis and variability of relevant traits to develop tools for pre-breeding and breeding activities (MAS). The release of performing varieties is one of the key issue to allow sufficient food production with the less arable land used (in Europe and in the world).

- Strong link with all stakeholders need to be ensured – conservationists, farmers, research, public and private breeding…

• But seeds/genetic resources are only a part of the agriculture sustainability equation : cannot miss the production, the cropping system, the agronomic techniques, the use of resources…

Final comments

FP7/Theme 2: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/kbbe/home_en.html

EU AGRINET Research portal: http://ec.europa.eu/research/agriculture/index_en.html

DG RTD: http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?lg=en

DG AGRI: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/index_en.htm

Europe 2020: http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/index_en.htm

Innovation Union communication: http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/index_en.cfm?pg=keydocs

Sources of information

Thank you for your attention!

Contacts

sebastien.crepieux@ec.europa.eu , Project Officer Plant Breeding and Agronomy, Unit E4

timothy.hall@ec.europa.eu Head of Unit E.4 Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Aquacualture

maive.rute@ec.europa.eu Directorate E Biotechnologies, Agricuture, Food