Biotechnology has arrived in the agricultural sector and is here to stay. For years, companies dedicated to developing products to solve the most common problems in crops have been incorporating R&D departments to add this innovative tool to our work protocols. Agricultural biotechnology allows us to address global food challenges – such as food security -, increase productivity and improve the sustainability of a key economic sector.
THE KEY TO RESPONDING TO CURRENT CHALLENGES IN AGRICULTURE
And why do we say that agricultural biotechnology is the key right now? Because the data clearly show the magnitude of the challenges that agriculture on the planet must urgently face.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) annual report for 2023, environmental disasters cause losses of about $123 billion per year, which represents 5% of all global production, and damage caused by pests, diseases and other agricultural threats to crops generates around 40% of annual losses in terms of crop productivity globally.
Faced with this reality, scientific advances applied to agriculture allow us to accelerate plant improvement processes to face the challenge of pests and diseases that arrive or appear more quickly due to globalization and climate change. And companies like MAFA have been incorporating R&D departments and increasing investment in research precisely for this reason. Because we are aware that biotechnology allows us to provide solutions to an agriculture that now more than ever needs to be sustainable. However, and in the same way that the agricultural product innovation sector has been rapidly improving and optimizing results, it is essential that, with the same speed, a stable regulatory framework is promoted that is aligned with the interests and needs of present and future agriculture.
4 facts to keep in mind about biotechnology
SUSTAINABLE AND QUALITY FOOD PRODUCTION
This is one of the reasons why biotechnology work is key and practically essential, as it allows for sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture, while improving the quality of food.
How? With formulations that improve the resistance of plants to attacks by pathogens and pests, as well as to high temperatures, salinity or drought. And, on the other hand, they contribute to producing foods with greater nutritional value and more sustainable, as their production is compatible with their environment and generates the least possible impact.
In fact, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) considers biotechnology to be strategic in meeting the food demand of a growing population, something we have already mentioned in other posts.
In the case of MAFA, we are focusing a large part of our work on developing products that improve nutrient absorption, root development and phytopathogen control thanks to the use of microorganisms with plant growth promoting properties (the so-called PGPR).
REFORMULATE THE AGRO-FOOD SYSTEM
Experts continue to insist: the transition to a more sustainable food system is urgent. The agri-food system must be reformulated so that, based on sustainability and environmental protection, productivity can be increased, costs reduced, innovations generated and crops improved.
And there are many of us who believe that biotechnological solutions applied to the field will allow the objectives of sustainability to be aligned with the need to guarantee food security and the affordability of food. The reality of the planet is very diverse, but basic food cannot be compromised.
CONSERVING RESOURCES
This is another issue that agricultural biotechnology faces. All the research that is being carried out – largely based on the production of probiotics and prebiotics for agricultural use – is focused on better conservation of natural resources. The aim is for crops to require less water, external nutrition and phytosanitary control products and, in this way, be more resilient.
At MAFA, for example, we have recently strengthened our laboratory and its biological research, applying live microorganisms or substances obtained from them to improve the resistance of crops to possible sources of biotic and abiotic stress. We also apply biotechnology to formulate solutions that improve soil health, because soils are the key to productive and sustainable agriculture.
ACHIEVING THE PLANET'S SUSTAINABILITY GOALS
It is clear that the planet has certain essential and urgent goals before it. These are challenges that must be met if we want a truly fair society and a balance in such essential issues as feeding people and preserving the environment.
And it is in achieving these goals that biotechnological work applied to agriculture becomes important and necessary. For instance, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development states that we are at a critical and at the same time key moment to promote more sustainable economic models for the future of humanity. These are challenges for which biotechnology offers solutions. In fact, according to the FAO, in the coming years it will be necessary to increase food production by 50% on the same agricultural land that we currently have.
The European Commission’s Green Deal also aims to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. Key to this is innovation in the food production system enabled by bio-solutions for agriculture.
