Articles from Auriga Magasinet No. 2, September 2005
More efficient farming
More and more must be produced on less and less land to meet demand.
The major part of the population growth is seen in the developing countries where there is little scope for increasing farmed land areas. In some regions it might be possible to increase the land on which crops are grown, but any significant increase will have a severe impact on valuable natural habitats.
“The felling of the rainforest and the reclamation of swamps etc. will result in the impoverishment of nature and a fall in the diversity of species. In addition, urbanisation and infrastructure developments are taking up increasing shares of the land. It means that by 2050 the average farmland area available per person will have fallen from 0.22 hectare today to about 0.15 hectare,” says Lars-Erik Kruse Pedersen, Market Development Manager.
Lars-Erik Kruse Pedersen, Market Development Manager, and two of the department’s
agronomists discuss future challenges within farming and plant protection.
More intensive farming
An increase in production must primarily take the form of intensified farming of the existing farmland. There is, however, a risk of intensified farming leading to soil erosion. Several million hectares of farmland are lost each year due to the use of incorrect or heavy-handed farming methods. The risk of the soil becoming exhausted and losing its production potential also exists. Soil erosion and exhaustion lead to increasing demands for more efficient cultivation of the remaining land. The use and application of plant protection products are important factors when it comes to increasing efficiency.
Plant protection products play a decisive role
“Everybody agrees that the earth’s population must be guaranteed a sufficient and balanced diet. This means that in future, farmland yields must be increased significantly. The use of plant protection products is one of the methods available,” says Lars-Erik Kruse Pedersen.
“Other methods include educating farmers, artificial fertilisers, breeding, genetically modified crops and irrigation. All these methods have a role to play in ensuring that significantly higher yields can be harvested in the future. Without plant protection products, more than half of many crops would be lost.”
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