Martin Collison today spoke about the challenges of agriculture in the context of the global pressures on resources at the International 2014 Earth Systems Governance Conference at the University of East Anglia.
Speaking alongside Tony Juniper, Henry Cator OBE (farmer and Chairman of RASE) and Gemma Harper (DEFRA), Martin outlined the need to focus on yield growth globally if we are to avoid the need to convert more natural land to agriculture. With a growing global population, the impact of climate change and changes in diet, the pressures to convert more land to farming are growing.
However, converting natural land to agriculture leads to large carbon emissions, has negative impacts on biodiversity and affects many natural cycles such as freshwater which sustain life.
To avoid these risks Martin advocated sustainable intensification through the use of new technology and management techniques to enable the increased demand for agricultural products to be met through increases in average global yields.