Key challenges and opportunities for the

Food and Agriculture System towards 2050

Hans Jöhr, Corporate Head of Agriculture

OECD, Paris, 3 Dec. 2013

A Food Industry perspective

Key challenges for the food industry

Ensured long-term supply of safe, quality assured, regulatory

compliant and price competitive agricultural materials to serve

consumers with high nutritional and affordable products.

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Sufficient supply of raw materials will depend on gains in agricultural

productivity, which will be influence by:

• Soil fertility and land availability

• Water

• Plant and animal genetics

• Energy

• Post-harvest losses and waste

• Knowledge and technology

• Education and vocational

training

• Enabling environment

Soil fertility and land availability

It is unlikely that more arable land will be available in

future and soil fertility will reduce.

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We must preserve land and sustain soil fertility promoting integrated

nutrient management making use of organic and synthetic fertilizers!

Source: FAO/UNEP Source: UNEP/Grid Arendal, 2008

Water

Water pollution is of global concern and water used in

agriculture accounts for almost 75% of water with-

drawals.

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We need to build and promote more efficient irrigation technologies and

make economic use of fresh water and treated wastewater!

Source: I.A. Shiklomanov and UNESCO, 1999

Plant and animal genetics

There is evidence of stagnating yield growth for some

crops (e.g. rice, wheat, soybeans) and high yielding

crops and animals are increasingly susceptible to dise-

ases, pests and changing environments.

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We need to promote breeding for higher yields but also better tolerance to

diseases, pest and changing environment and have to materialize the

yield gap!

Source: R.A.T. Fischer, G.O. Edmeades, 2010

Rice yields in Japan

Year

Wheat yields in UK

Year

Energy

Energy consumption will continue to increase and with

it the energy prices, translating into production and

processing of agricultural raw materials.

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But the era of cheap oil

may be gone forever

We must promote energy efficient agricultural production systems and

produce locally where we have a comparative advantage, avoiding

unnecessary shipment of bulk raw materials!

OECD/IEA, 2011

Post harvest losses and waste

Post-harvest losses and waste accounts for about 50%

of the calories from farm to fork.

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Source: J. Lundquist et al. 2008

We need to promote more efficient use of agricultural raw materials and

avoid post-harvest losses and waste along the entire supply chain!

Source: H. Charles, J. Godfray et al. 2010

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Knowledge and technology

Limited investments into agricultural production

systems and education such as vocational schools

and extension services, leaving the potential of new

advanced agro-technologies unattained.

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We need to educate the next generation of farmers (agripreneurs) by

promoting agricultural education (vocational schools), extension and

applied research, and provide access to finances for on-farm investments!

Source: ASTI, 2012

Education and vocational training

Agricultural education in primary and secondary schools

is nonexistent and appropriate vocational training is

neglected.

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Nestlé’s contributions towards successful professionals:

• Trains 273’000 farmers in Nestlé markets (2012);

• Builds 40 schools in 4 years in Cote d’Ivoire;

• Supports self-sufficient agricultural school (Paraguay);

• Builds a Dairy Farming Institute in China;

• Will employ 20’000 young people across Europe over the next three years.

We need to strengthen collaboration between public-private bodies to

give young people in rural communities new professional perspectives!

Enabling environment

Policies that favor markets and trade, the provision of

inputs and related infrastructure for agricultural develop-

ment are often missing.

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We need an enabling environment that integrates stakeholders from the

public and private sector to develop sustainable solutions for rural

communities!

Net agricultural production (Index 2004-06=100)

Contributions expected:

• Encourage free market and trade;

• Support programs that improve access to

agro-inputs;

• Improve physical infrastructure;

• Invest into education of young people.

Sustainable intensification of agriculture

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To produce more food we must promote a “Sustainable Intensification

of Agriculture” that increases:

• Productivity – How much a defined production system is able to produce over

time;

• Stability and Variation – How much productivity varies from year to year;

• Resilience – How well a production system tolerates or recover from stress or

shock;

• Equitability – How much farming families and rural populations will benefit

from selling their goods and providing public services to mainly urban citizens.

Ensuring long-term supply of raw materials requires:

• Avoiding post-harvest losses and waste along the supply chain;

• Producing more food from the same area of land while reducing the

environmental impacts (sustainable intensification).

Conclusion

The urbanized world of tomorrow will heavily depend on the food industry to

ensure supply of goods by transforming agricultural raw materials to the

finished products.

In order to feed the world by 2050 we need an enabling environment that

fosters private-public partnerships between the public sector, food industry,

retailers, NGOs, agro-input suppliers, financial institution, etc.

International organizations are crucial in creating this enabling environment

and developing an appropriate incentive system.

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