Author:
Jean-Claude Hiron

Field crops are gaining recog­ni­tion because of the impor­tant climate benefit they offer: Storing carbon in the soil by increasing its organic matter content. This creates new expec­ta­tions of agri­cul­ture, but also new oppor­tu­ni­ties. Visit to a French farmer who markets his CO₂ storage.

The Euro­pean LIFE "Agri­Adapt" project has been working on the topic of climate adap­ta­tion for four years. Patrick Trötschler from the German project partner “Bodensee-Stiftung” speaks about the prospects in the cultivation sector and effi­cient drought preven­tion.

The autonomy level of Euro­pean animal husbandry varies depending on the protein group. Fact is: Europe will remain depen­dent on imports. However, in the long term, breeding and tech­nical advances will increase inde­pen­dence. See our inter­ac­tive graphics to find out what is happening where.

Alexander Döring, secre­tary general of FEFAC (the Euro­pean Feed Manu­fac­turers’ Feder­a­tion), on reducing the protein gap.

Making Europe less depen­dent on imports of protein raw mate­rials is a chal­lenge for the future. We meet two producers who are doing their bit to improve Europe’s protein produc­tion.

It is partic­u­larly hard to assess the damage caused by compaction in deeper soil layers. But research data and statis­tics indi­cate a consid­er­able impact on agri­cul­tural produc­tivity.

Soil compaction is a well-known problem, but its impact is often under­es­ti­mated and diffi­cult to assess. And it is a growing concern for farming stake­holders.

Fresh players in the market and new factors influ­encing pricing mean grain prices are fluc­tu­ating signif­i­cantly more than in the past. When selling their grain, farmers there­fore need to focus on good risk manage­ment.

There are many types of hunger. If we want to feed the world, we should not only pay atten­tion to the quan­tity but also to the quality of food.