Brussels, Belgium
June 26, 2007
Janez Potočnik
European Commissioner for Science and Research
Research towards future challenges of European agriculture
SCAR (Standing Committee for Agriculture Research) Conference on
the future of Agriculture Research
It's a pleasure to be here. Today's theme about the future
challenges of agricultural research is very broad. So it may be
difficult to provide an outline of the research challenges of
the next 25 years in just 15 minutes.
But I feel that my colleague Commissioner Fischer-Boel, who is
speaking after me, probably has an even harder subject,
entitled: 'the future of agriculture in Europe'. It was one of
her compatriots, the Danish scientist Niels Bohr, who famously
said: 'Prediction is very difficult especially about the
future!'
I am pleased that we have a good range of people here today.
Because agriculture and its research is not isolated it is in
fact a chain. For example, it involves a chain of suppliers, a
chain of seasons, and a food chain which passes through
supermarket chains.
But agriculture research is about much more than food. It's
about the environment, climate change, globalisation, energy,
health and even security. It's also about jobs and growth.
This means that everyone in the agricultural chain farmers,
industry, regulators and consumers have to work together. A
holistic approach is also needed in research. Because the kinds
of advances we are seeking need to be approached from many
different scientific disciplines.
Research and new technologies, coupled with increased
globalisation, have already led to major changes in agriculture.
Take wine for example. Research advances means we can now:
transfer vines to other parts of the world and successfully
cultivate them,
bottle and transport the final product to distant markets,
even improve and sometimes replace corks to improve taste and
reduce waste. (This last improvement, by the way, is thanks to
EU Framework Programme funding something to remember perhaps
when you open your next bottle.)
But a well known scientific law is 'every action has a reaction'
- and this certainly applies in agriculture.
So replacing the cork in wine bottles led to some protests from
the farms which had produced bottle cork for decades.
And while improved technologies have helped increase wine
production, in some cases this has led to overproduction and
so prices falling.
Add to this the increased consumer choice due to globalisation,
and it is easy to see that what can be advances for some, such
as the consumers, can actually hurt others, such as local
producers.
This is not just a theory. Just last week, the BBC reported that
a new group of wine growers in Languedoc has threatened violence
unless the French Government raises the price of wine.
So we have to think carefully about who and what is affected by
our agricultural research - and if it is sustainable.
This will need input from all sides and especially from
business. After all, the European bio-economy - which includes
agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture, bio-based
handling of resources and rural development - has an estimated
annual turn-over of more than .15 trillion and employs 22
million people.
Research can support and strengthen this European
knowledge-based bio-economy. Research not only improves Europe's
economic and employment growth, it can also provide innovation,
new applications and products in areas such as:
novel foods
biodegradable plastics
new agricultural products and practices,
and sustainable, environmentally friendly biofuels.
Biofuels is the second agricultural research issue I would like
to focus on briefly. Why are biofuels important? Mostly because
the EU is heavily dependent on oil we import 70% of what we
need.
With biofuels produced in Europe, we can therefore guarantee a
better security of supply.
We have the raw materials. For example, biomass and waste in
France offers the equivalent of almost 12 million tons of oil.
Europe has also become the world leader in biodiesel production,
with a market which has grown from 55.000 tons in 1992 to more
than 3 million tons in 2005. Bio-ethanol has had a 15-fold
increase from 47.500 tons produced in 1993 to over 700.000 tons
in 2005.
But if we want to ensure their full potential to contribute to
environmental and competitveness objectives, it is absolutely
imperative that we improve their efficiency and performance.
Research and development is instrumental in this respect. The
European Commission, through the EU Framework programmes, has
already provided significant financial support to bioenergy and
biotechnology research.
For example, the EU is supporting several large-scale research
projects aiming to convert biomass into biofuels, bio-products
and heat and power. The 7th framework programme is very much
oriented towards speeding up the development of superior
performance biofuels, those of second generation and beyond
biofuels.
I believe this will be very important if we want to make sure
that our security of supply is met in a sustainable manner.
There is already concern that increased dedication of
agricultural land to biofuel crops will reduce the amount
dedicated to food. And that this will reduce the supply of food.
So the research, where to spend it, who needs it most and how
much funding to give it have very political, as well as
practical, considerations. This applies on regional, national
and especially at EU level - where this question may arise again
next year when the review of the EU's budget begins.
Europeans are already benefiting from a rise in EU research
spending. The new Seventh Framework Programme, or FP7, offers
funding of over 54 billion over the next seven years. And its
research results will have a direct bearing on agriculture.
In FP7, there are specific programmes dedicated to areas key to
agriculture. For example, it has a "Food, Agriculture and
Fisheries, and Biotechnology" theme, which will receive almost
2 billion euro in research funding. This will look into
sustainable production, food and health, and life sciences,
among other areas.
FP7 also has an energy theme, which will aim to improve the
environmental and energy production of biofuels, make them more
cost-competitive, and develop the concept of bio-refinery.
There are many, many more opportunities for funding and support
for agricultural research in the new Framework Programme. And I
encourage you all to take full advantage of these.
I am pleased that we are discussing developing agricultural
research while the European Commission has a public consultation
open. Our Green Paper on the European Research Area, and how we
can improve it, is open until August. We want as many ideas as
possible on how research can be improved in Europe.
From your perspective, it may be that you feel researchers are
too restricted in their mobility, that we don't have the right
research infrastructures, that there are too few partnerships,
too little coordination or not enough international cooperation.
Or you may be thinking of all of these!
Either way, we would welcome your feedback. Better research in
Europe can only improve our European Agro-System.
The European Research Area discussion is about asking questions.
By asking them, we can get feedback from everyone from
international experts to those on the ground. And I think
agricultural research could benefit in the same way.
At this conference, there are several questions we could ask
about how European agriculture will advance and what role
research will play. For example:
Can the European Agro-System adapt and remain competitive in the
new international context set out by the foresight scenarios?
Will agriculture research be more focused on food, energy or the
environment?
How can future research still offer innovations and competitive
advantages for the European Agro-System?
I hope the deliberations over the next twenty four hours will
help to provide us all with some answers.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Agriculture and research represent central areas in Europe and
the world. Many discussions on agriculture focus on output. But
today is about input your input. We all know that research can
give us answers. But first we need to know what the right
questions are. And that is where you can play a vital role.
Agriculture and research are all about growth: growth of new
products, new ideas, new techniques. And growth of jobs,
economies and people.
An American actor once said: 'As you grow older, the only things
you regret are what you didn't do.' I hope that we all make the
right decisions over the coming days, months and years so that
we don't have those same regrets.
Thank you. |
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