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Planting the future: opportunities and challenges for using ... - EASAC

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Summary<br />

Agriculture faces major <strong>challenges</strong> to deliver food<br />

security at a time of increasing pressures from climate<br />

change, social <strong>and</strong> economic inequity <strong>and</strong> instability, <strong>and</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> continuing need to avoid fur<strong>the</strong>r loss in ecosystem<br />

biodiversity. The introduction of new EU legislation<br />

requiring farmers to reduce reliance on crop protection<br />

chemicals creates additional <strong>challenges</strong> <strong>for</strong> maintaining<br />

levels of crop productivity.<br />

Previous European Union (EU) agricultural policy had<br />

focused on constraining food production but <strong>the</strong>re<br />

is a new realisation that <strong>the</strong> EU should now increase<br />

its biomass production <strong>for</strong> food, livestock feed <strong>and</strong><br />

o<strong>the</strong>r uses, including renewable materials to support<br />

<strong>the</strong> bioeconomy. The production of more food, more<br />

sustainably, requires <strong>the</strong> development of crops that<br />

can make better use of limited resources. Agricultural<br />

innovation can capitalise on <strong>the</strong> rapid pace of advance<br />

in functional genomics research <strong>and</strong> it is unwise to<br />

exclude any technology a priori <strong>for</strong> ideological reasons.<br />

Sustainable agricultural production <strong>and</strong> food security<br />

must harness <strong>the</strong> potential of biotechnology in all its<br />

facets.<br />

In previous work, <strong>the</strong> European Academies Science<br />

Advisory Council (<strong>EASAC</strong>) has described <strong>the</strong> <strong>opportunities</strong><br />

<strong>and</strong> <strong>challenges</strong> in <strong>using</strong> plant genetic resources in<br />

improved breeding approaches, <strong>for</strong> example by <strong>using</strong><br />

marker-assisted selection of desired traits. In <strong>the</strong><br />

present report, <strong>EASAC</strong> explores some of <strong>the</strong> issues<br />

associated with <strong>the</strong> genetic modification of crops,<br />

where <strong>the</strong> EU has fallen behind in its adoption of <strong>the</strong><br />

technology, compared with many o<strong>the</strong>r regions of <strong>the</strong><br />

world. Concerns have been expressed that a timeconsuming<br />

<strong>and</strong> expensive regulatory framework in <strong>the</strong><br />

EU, compounded by politicisation of decision-making<br />

by Member States <strong>and</strong> coupled with o<strong>the</strong>r policy<br />

inconsistencies, has tended to act as an impediment to<br />

agricultural innovation. Controversies about <strong>the</strong> impact<br />

of genetically modified (GM) crops have too often been<br />

based on contested science or have confounded effects<br />

of <strong>the</strong> technology with <strong>the</strong> impact of agriculture per se<br />

or changes in agronomic practice. It is vital to address<br />

<strong>the</strong> policy disconnects because <strong>the</strong>re is a wide range<br />

of <strong>opportunities</strong> in prospect <strong>for</strong> improving agricultural<br />

productivity <strong>and</strong> efficiency, environmental quality <strong>and</strong><br />

human health, by <strong>using</strong> all available technologies where<br />

appropriate.<br />

Previous work by member academies of <strong>EASAC</strong> has<br />

documented where <strong>the</strong>re is excellent, relevant science<br />

to be nurtured <strong>and</strong> used, <strong>and</strong> where problems have<br />

arisen because of <strong>the</strong> failure to use science to in<strong>for</strong>m <strong>the</strong><br />

modernisation of regulatory approaches to benefit–risk<br />

assessment. The goal of <strong>the</strong> present report is to clarify<br />

<strong>the</strong> implications <strong>for</strong> policy-makers of alternative strategic<br />

choices in <strong>using</strong> <strong>the</strong> tools, collectively termed crop genetic<br />

improvement technologies, <strong>for</strong> delivering sustainable<br />

agriculture. Our analysis of <strong>the</strong> international evidence<br />

draws on two main work streams:<br />

• A case study comparison of certain countries (in <strong>the</strong><br />

Americas <strong>and</strong> Asia) who have taken a different path<br />

by <strong>the</strong>ir decision to adopt GM crops more actively.<br />

We review <strong>the</strong> documented impacts in terms of<br />

environmental <strong>and</strong> socio-economic indicators, <strong>and</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> implications <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> science base, <strong>and</strong> note that<br />

comparing different regulatory approaches used<br />

elsewhere might offer new insight <strong>for</strong> EU policymakers.<br />

• A collaboration with <strong>the</strong> Network of African Science<br />

Academies (NASAC) to ascertain <strong>the</strong> current situation<br />

regarding crop genetic improvement strategies in<br />

African countries <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> implications of EU practices<br />

<strong>and</strong> perspectives on decisions in Africa. The situation<br />

across Africa is diverse but <strong>the</strong>re are now major<br />

initiatives to use GM crops to address local needs.<br />

There is evidence that European influences have<br />

sometimes constrained <strong>the</strong> use of such technologies<br />

in Africa but <strong>the</strong>re are significant <strong>opportunities</strong> <strong>for</strong><br />

international partnership, in<strong>for</strong>med by local priorities<br />

<strong>and</strong> acting to streng<strong>the</strong>n local systems.<br />

The <strong>EASAC</strong> Working Group also provided detailed<br />

evaluation of a broad range of current issues within<br />

<strong>the</strong> EU, relating to regulatory re<strong>for</strong>m, consequences<br />

<strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> science base <strong>and</strong> new technology development<br />

(particularly, <strong>the</strong> New Breeding Techniques), public<br />

engagement, intellectual property <strong>and</strong> open innovation,<br />

increasing environmental <strong>challenges</strong>, <strong>the</strong> potential food<br />

crop pipeline <strong>and</strong> new applications <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> bioeconomy.<br />

This broad review of issues revealed several serious<br />

inconsistencies in current EU policy. For example, an<br />

important objective to reduce pesticide use in agriculture<br />

is being implemented without sufficient attention paid<br />

to facilitating <strong>the</strong> development of alternative methods<br />

<strong>for</strong> protecting crops from pests <strong>and</strong> diseases. Bringing<br />

toge<strong>the</strong>r analysis of <strong>the</strong> cross-cutting issues <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> EU<br />

<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> international evidence, <strong>the</strong> <strong>EASAC</strong> Working<br />

Group reached four main conclusions, with extensive<br />

implications <strong>for</strong> ascertaining greater coherence in policymaking.<br />

These are described below.<br />

1. L<strong>and</strong> use <strong>and</strong> innovation: <strong>the</strong> EU needs to increase<br />

its production <strong>and</strong> productivity of plant-derived biomass<br />

<strong>for</strong> food, feed <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r applications, <strong>the</strong>reby decreasing<br />

dependency on imports <strong>and</strong> reducing <strong>the</strong> regional <strong>and</strong><br />

global environmental impact. Commitment to agricultural<br />

innovation can be expected also to create jobs, benefit<br />

<strong>EASAC</strong> <strong>Planting</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>future</strong> | June 2013 | 1

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