28th ANNUAL ICABR CONFERENCE

In 2021, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released their report Making Better Policies for Food Systems, which documented that since 1960, global food production increased 390%, while the amount of land used to produce food increased by 10% and food systems account for 21-37% of GHG emissions. The OECD went on to say that agriculture is facing the triple challenge of providing adequate, affordable, safe and nutritious food for the growing population, providing livelihoods all along the food value chain and doing so while increasing the sector’s sustainability and contributing to combatting climate change. Meeting these challenges will require innovations that improve crop productivity, as well as contributing to a circular bioeconomy.

With global agriculture tasked with higher sustainable food production, without lowering profitability, policies to incentivize greater investment into productivity increases will be fundamentally important. Additionally, risk appropriate regulations will be needed to encourage the development of efficient food and bioindustry food chains as well as mitigation and adaptation to climate change. To meet these multiple goals, policies governing the development and spread of innovations will be needed to ensure social benefits are maximized from these innovations, while ensuring excessive regulatory burdens do not constrict innovation pipelines and supply chains. Farmers consistently require access to innovative technologies that increase yields and income, reduce inputs and improve soil health while protecting the environment.