report
2.2.2 Short Description

Global agriculture today faces several issues: maximising land-use in different environments, sustainable use of resources (in particular fresh water) and ensuring that practices do not have an adverse impact on the environment (e.g. accumulation of pesticides and fertilisers).  At the same time there are opportunities for agriculture to expand into new areas, for example the utility of what would previously have been regarded as agricultural waste which now can be used for industrial processes.

This report covers the application of nanotechnology developments in agricultural production.  It is divided into five areas:

• sensors and diagnostic devices (to monitor environmental conditions, plant and animal health);
• disease and pest control (including the use of novel delivery systems for pesticides, and limiting the environmental impact of agrochemicals);
• water and nutrient control (including the use of novel delivery systems, and filtration and remediation systems to ensure access to clean water);
• genetic engineering of plants and livestock to improve productivity;
• agriculture as a means to produce nanomaterials (either harvesting natural nanomaterials from, generally, waste material, or using plants and microbes to manufacture nanomaterials).

This report will provide an overview of the state of research and development in each of the above areas, highlight additional research needs, review applications and perspectives, compare the current situation in the EU with other global regions and pick out key players.

Much of the first three sections relate to ‘precision farming’.  This is the use of GPS, GIS and networks of sensors and actuators throughout an agricultural area that measure and report on (and in some case respond to) a number of different environmental, crop and pest variables.  These effectively support the experience of the farmer by providing data and statistics that allow the farmer to make informed choices for intervention, including irrigation, fertilisation, pest control and even harvest.  Although costly, this is becoming largely offset by the rising cost of food, the need for higher quality and increasing legislation.