b'When we are thinking aboutdoes the seed industry needHowever, the agriculture how to feed the world andto adapt and mitigate thefocus for climate change in how to grow new, nutritiousoncoming climate crisis? the Green Deal comes in with food for people, thats aWhat should seed com- the Farm to Fork Strategy. problem. On the track werepanies be doing, and howFarm to Fork has identi-currently headed for, we canshould they be adapting theirfied a whole range of aims of expect something like a 17%strategies? asks Marcel Bruins,what they want to achieve by drop in global agricultureeditorial director of European2030, Bruins says. productivity by 2050. This isSeed. First of all, companiesSome of Farm to Forks an absolute food crisis. should continue to focus onaims are:And finally, the biggestbiotic stress resistance. They Reduce the use of more challenge ultimately becomesare already spending roughlyhazardous pesticidesthe growing concern of every- around 50% of their breedingby 50% Mitigation and one in the seed industryweefforts on resistance breeding.Reduce nutrient losses adaptation. Those are need to grow more food onWith emerging pests andby 50%less land.diseases in Europe, BruinsReduce fertilizer use really our two options Not only do we need tosays companies need to beby 20% going forward. grow more food on less land,prepared to step up their Boost the development of but we need to do it in morebreeding efforts againstEU organic farming to 25% of Kurtis Baute.extreme weather conditionsnew threats, but also againsttotal farmlandand for more people, Bautedrought, flood and salt issues.These are ambitious says.And, like Baute suggested,goals, Bruins says. Many are Bruins agrees that companiessaying they are impossible, Going Forward, Whatsneed to be prepared to comebut well have to see what the Plan? out with new varieties withhappens by 2030.With this challengefeedingbetter nutrient use efficiency.Canada has some similar an ever-growing global popu- In the field of seed appliedgoals. lation by 2050 on less landtechnologies, well needFrom a government with more extreme weathernutrients in the whole mix inlevel, Canada does have an conditions to battleit mightthe seed apply mix that bondofficial climate change plan, seem absolutely hopeless forstronger to soil particles,Marc Zienkiewicz, editor of the agriculture industry as aBruins says.Germination, says. Were1.2 F is the increase whole. Luckily, associations,In terms of policy, the EUmoving to net zero emissions companies and governmentshas put together a masterby the year 2050. of temperature over the are up to the task. plan for climate change: theThe Canadian governmentcontiguous U.S. over theMitigation and adapta- Green Deal. Luckily, Bruinsalso recently introduced thelast few decades. tion. Those are really our twosays, the Green Deal recog- Canadian Net Zero Emissions options going forward, Bautenizes that climate change andAccountability Act, which will10.5%is thesays. We need to do bothenvironmental degradation isformalize Canadas target toestimated percentage ofof them simultaneously. So,an existential threat to the EUachieve net zero emissions bytotal U.S. greenhousewe need to be adapting toand the world.2050. gases agriculture emits. the warming that is coming.They realize that youIn addition, Canadas fed-Even if we stopped emissionsneed a new growth strategyeral budget was released in11.6%is thetoday, which were a long waytowards a more modern andearly summerZienkiewicz off from, there would still beresearch efficient, competi- reports that its an interestingincrease in carbonwarming coming. In addition,tive economy, Bruins says.budget that didnt specificallystorage offset of totalwe need to mitigate by asking:Theyre aiming for no netmake direct announcementsU.S. greenhouse gas How do we reduce our emis- emissions of greenhouseto agriculture, but there areemissions in 2018. sions as much as possible? gases by 2050. In short,some ramifications for agricul- Source: USDA ERSAcross the globe, this hasthe plan is to make the EUture in it. been a discussionhoweconomy sustainable. For example, it proposes SEPTEMBER 2021SEEDWORLD.COM /53'