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reportFocus Report 2010: Nanotechnologies for nutrient and biocide delivery in agricultural production
2.2 Executive Summary
The changing demands on agricultural production and management
Maximising output, minimising waste, and reducing the impact on the environment are key drivers for the agricultural industry. The agriculture sector as a whole employs over 11 million people within the EU (approximately 2.3% of the population). As such it represents a major opportunity for innovation to ensure that the EU progresses towards the Lisbon goals.
In the area of agricultural production and management, there are a number of issues facing the sector:
• Inflation of food price. The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) has begun to rise steadily, fuelled by volatile and inflated prices of a key range of commodities such as cereals, fats, oils and dairy products. A number of factors have led to this; low global food stocks (reduced buffer), weather events and disease outbreaks, the activities of speculators in commodities such as agricultural goods, and food policy artificially preventing domestic food price increase, has lead to a situation increasingly referred to as the food crisis. This leads to high demand pressures on agricultural production and management.
• Increasing population and Nutrition transition towards a higher protein diet. As can be seen in rapidly developing countries there is a transition from a cereals and tuber dominated diet to more meat. For example rearing poultry for protein, rather than derive it directly from crops, requires approximately four times the land area to deliver the equivalent feed volumes. This can be seen in China and India
• Climate change and its effects on weather systems. In Europe, one major effect could be on harvesting routines, where delayed harvesting often leads to rotting crops. A further secondary effect of climate change is the variability in the occurrence of crop pathogen and disease spread. A recent example being the UK potato harvest of 2008 where the damp summer resulted in the highest occurrence of potato blight since the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840's.
• Adaptive supply chains from farm to fork: There is a shift from stable supply chain relations to more flexible and agile relationships with shifts and reorientations based on the needs of the value chain. This means suppliers need to remain aware of the dynamics of the value chain and adapt meaning a constantly co-evolving situation between supply and value chains.
• Environmental sustainability and Agricultural management: As with all industries, there is pressure to be environmentally and economically sustainable in the long term. This encompasses new legislation affecting the number of pesticides which can be used; and decreasing agricultural waste (or finding novel uses for it), for example Europe's fruit and vegetable industries generate about 30 million tonnes of waste a year .
Technical Innovation as part of the solution?
New technologies promise to deliver options for these challenges outlined. One area receiving a lot of attention in recent years is nanotechnology applied to advanced delivery systems and nanoformulations for pesticides and nutrients. However, nanotechnology developments have their own challenges, from upscaling and manufacturing, to regulatory uncertainty and lack of standards, as well as uncertainty in risk assessment and management.
This report focuses on nanotechnology innovations for three functional improvements;
(1) increased efficacy;
(2) controlled release; and
(3) targeted delivery for nutrients such as: (a) fertilisers and plant growth enhancers; and (b) biocides such as fungicides, herbicides and pesticides.
To date, information covering the breadth of nanotechnology developments within these areas has not been made readily available, with reports focussing on particular nanotechnologies. As may be imagined, many developments for the three desired functions given above parallel those in the pharmaceutical and nutrition sectors. This report focuses on those nanotechnologies where there is active research and development for agricultural purposes.
This report includes, within its scope, the technological developments, market applications in the sector, and also looks at broader drivers and barriers to the further development of nano-augmented delivery systems for agriculture.
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