Agriculture Beyond Food - threats and opportunities
10 June 2011
Biomass is green gold. The potential of using biomass to generate energy or to produce plastic is rapidly gaining global attention. This development brings opportunities, but may also threaten food security and the availability of resources. Scientific insights are needed to assess the future impact of these new ways of using biomass. The ‘Agriculture Beyond Food’ research programme consists of three integrated projects to provide answers. In March 2011, researchers from all three project groups met up to increase synergy.
Opportunities and threats of the bio-based economy
The use of biomass for purposes other than food or feed is often referred to as the bio-based economy, or agriculture beyond food. The demand for biomass as a resource for bio-fuels and bio-materials is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years. This demand is driven by the fact that oil and gas are running out as energy sources. Another reason for the large demand for biomass is the growing global awareness that carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced.
It is crucial to be aware of the various consequences of this major development in agriculture. A rapidly growing demand for biomass could jeopardize food security or threaten the availability of resources. This may well result in competing claims for scarce resources. Scientific insight into the opportunities and threats of the bio-based economy are needed.
Agriculture Beyond Food (ABF)
It is vital that this discussion is approached in an integrated way and that the entire production chain is considered from an interdisciplinary perspective. For this reason, The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) have initiated the research programme Agriculture Beyond Food (ABF). Together with the Indonesian Ministry of Science and Technology (RISTEK), scientists from Indonesia and the Netherlands jointly seek answers as to how to capitalize on the potential of the bio-based economy while avoiding any detrimental side effects.
Conference for ABF researchers
The ABF researchers of the three ABF research programmes met up in March 2011 to increase synergy between the various projects and the ABF programme as a whole. Posters were presented by each of the researchers participating in this programme. These presentations were followed by extensive comments and discussions, a speed-dating session and general conclusions.
Conclusions
The general conclusions were appraised by Professor Rudy Rabbinge of Wageningen University and Research Centre. It was emphasised that it is necessary to look at various levels (from global, national and regional to local and household), because interventions on one level profoundly influence opportunities at other levels. Furthermore, self-sufficiency or self-reliance is one of the main points of discussions for bio-based developments. In countries such as Indonesia self-sufficiency – to be food and energy independent – is essential but the extent to which this is the case remains open to further debate.
How relevant stakeholders can be identified and how they can be involved in the research will be addressed in the next meeting. This opportunity to meet up with fellow researchers was very useful for sharing ideas, plans and concepts across different disciplines, using skills that are also necessary when working with stakeholders.