As the global population rises, satisfying the demand for healthy food and optimal nutrition is one of the biggest challenges facing the world. Food demand is expected to increase by 70% by 2050. Shrinking land availability, environmental loss and degradation, shortages of water, increased energy demand, and the emergence of new pests and diseases are placing considerable pressure on our natural environment. The result is that farmers are finding it increasingly challenging to produce food in a sustainable way.

Technological innovation is a vital part of the solution. Agricultural technologies, in particular, have the potential to make farming more productive and more sustainable. Farmers recognise and appreciate this. In fact, many see technology - genetic, mechanical and increasingly digital- as the only realistic way of meeting the present challenges.

The EU should become a world leader in agricultural technology, innovation and sustainability. This report is about ensuring that Europe has a vibrant agricultural sector developing a wide range of innovations and technologies across all farming types whether conventional, organic or otherwise. We must ensure that the benefits of technological innovation are available to all our farmers. Finding solutions that work on a small scale in rural communities is equally important to addressing the challenges facing many of our large-scale farmers.

The need to improve productivity, competitiveness and environmental performance is not just about economics. With about 805 million people in the world suffering from chronic malnourishment and almost all of these living in developing countries, Europe surely has a moral obligation to optimise agricultural output and to increase production whilst doing this in the most sustainable way.

Whilst global concern over food and environmental security has brought a new focus to public sector R&D in recent years, European agriculture continues to trail behind many of its international competitors. Only sustained and prioritised investment in the research base will reverse this trend.

The starting point has to be targeted investment in applied and translational research. Not enough research is commercialised, so farmers are unable to take advantage of the opportunities that new technology and innovation provides. Similarly, where agricultural technologies are being developed, not all of these technologies are meeting farmers’ needs, either because the technology has yet to be optimised or adapted to local farming conditions, or because it is capital intensive and lies out of reach for the small farmer. 

Whilst farmers and scientists play different roles in the innovation process, improved outcomes can only be achieved with both parties working more closely together. Farmers are the end users of production and management technologies and the actors in the supply chain developing these technologies must tap into their practical experiences. Similarly, where farmers encounter a particular challenge in the field, they should be able to directly access scientists and make use of basic research to help find solutions. 

The EU and the Member States, academia and industry including breeders, the agro-chemicals sector, farmers and food manufactures, must all work together to improve the translation of research into practice, from lab to farm to fork. This will allow Europe to unlock a new phase in agricultural innovation. 

Recent investments and new funding priorities at Member State and EU level offer encouraging signs. The Horizon 2020 Framework Programme is the EU’s biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever, with some 80 billion euros of funding available over 7 years. 

New investment is also taking place in the Member States. In the UK for example, the British Government is investing in a new ‘Agri-Tech’ Strategy, which aims to make the UK a world leader in agricultural technology, innovation and sustainability. This strategy is now underway and includes a £70 million investment in an Agri-Tech Catalyst to help accelerate the commercialisation of agricultural research, and a further £90 million to establish Centres for Agricultural Innovation to support advances in sustainable agriculture. 

Key to making all this happen will be to secure the appropriate skills, and to attract the right talent and expertise into the industry. The research skills needed to support the sector are rapidly changing and there is now a real risk of higher skills shortages in agronomy and plant pathology as many of the experienced professionals in these niche areas are nearing retirement. Throughout much of Europe, centres for education, training and innovation have declined and need to be revitalised, particularly in the emerging field of agricultural engineering. In short, the EU and the Member States must strive to make the Europe’s agriculture sector more attractive to new entrants, either in farming, research or technology development. Furthermore, the Member States need to work more closely with industry to change the negative perceptions of the sector, as a low-skill, low-technology industry, so that agriculture can attract the skills required. 

Creating a regulatory environment which is more innovation-friendly and ensuring that EU regulations do not act as barriers to innovation is also very important. Without a supportive regulatory regime, European industry will relocate to more dynamic markets. All too often, EU legislation places restrictions on products and technologies without adequate evidence of risk. EU legislation must be evidence-based in order to encourage innovation.

Most farmers and landowners are small businesses and minimising the administrative burden on these SMEs is vital. Margins in the agricultural sector are small and extra costs threaten the survival of some small farming operations. 

Finally, the long term challenges of sustainable agriculture should be met with a joined-up approach from the Commission and Member States to ensure support for technological innovation, a regulatory framework that is risk based, underpinned by scientific evidence, continuity of basic and applied research and the development of agri-related skills.