De kwetsbaarheid van het Europese landbouw- en voedselsysteem ...

Box Research questions for the knowledge and innovation agenda
Risk analysis
1. Stress tests: to what extent is the European livestock sector resistant to calamities such as bioterrorism attacks?
And which calamities, other than those referred to in this report, are relevant to food security?
And which are relevant to food safety? What could be the consequences of these calamities? In any case,
these other calamities include power and/or Internet outages, food contamination in large chains and a crash
of the financial system.
2. What are the interactions between the markets for food, raw materials, energy and capital? For example:
to what risks are the other three markets subjected as a result of the massive creation of dollars and euros
on the capital market?
3. Which geopolitical scenarios – besides those already explored as part of the interdepartmental programme
Schaarste en Transitie (Scarcity and Transition) and the Strategie Nationale Veiligheid (the National Security
Strategy) – are conceivable and what are the advantages and risks of these scenarios for agriculture and
food security in the EU and developing countries? And how can these risks be reduced?
4. What is the nature and impact of the remaining levels of dumping in the US and EU? In how far can the
European farm payments be regarded as dumping? And the US practice of corporate dumping? Does the
latter also occur in the EU? Which options are available for mutual reduction?
Prevention
5. The current agricultural support of the EU primarily relies on farm payments. The basis of this support is
possibly too narrow since it does much less to protect food chains. Explore whether the support can be expanded
with support for chains that would enable them to be more resilient to calamities.
6. How can the production of protein crops in the EU and the Netherlands be promoted? In more concrete
terms:
• innovation of protein crops and production systems, for example through breeding and selection;
• options for trade policy exchange with other products.
7. What are the possibilities and limitations of the production of combined energy/protein crops? More
specifically:
• What are the sustainability pros and cons of various systems of combined energy/protein production?
• Are there options for a flexible biofuel blending obligation that can reduce severe price fluctuations for
both grain and proteins, while also avoiding conflicts with trading partners?
8. What are the possibilities (also in the area of trade policy) for a blending obligation for European-grown
vegetable proteins in animal feeds, with or without compensation for trading partners?
9. What options are available to strengthen the resilience of the European agriculture and food system
with respect to calamities and geopolitics? Besides biological and technical options, this also concerns options
in logistics, sector structure, farming styles and social networks. What new opportunities are offered by
social media?
10. More specifically: what are the options for strengthening the resilience of the intensive intensive livestock
farming in the Netherlands, which is relatively vulnerable to contagious animal diseases and a collapse of
soya imports. How can the structure and magnitude of the sector be adapted in such a way that it becomes
less vulnerable to animal diseases and a collapse of soya imports?
Preparedness
11. Where are the gaps in the public knowledge base of the EU and the Netherlands in the area of plant and
animal diseases, also regarding new emerging diseases (such as Rift Valley fever and the wheat diseases
stripe rust and yellow rust) and the risk of bioterrorism? How can access to vital knowledge be secured in an
era of commercialisation?
12. How can an extensification scheme combine reduced production with environmental and biodiversity benefits?
Can such a scheme be monitored for compliance?
13. Does a flexible nitrogen levy have possibilities as a buffer? What are the possibilities and advantages/disadvantages
from the perspective of sustainability?
14. What are the costs and benefits of various options for prevention and preparedness? These options include
replacing soya imports with Europe-grown proteins, stockpiling and a set-aside scheme. Where are the optimalities?
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