Sustainable farm input use & biodiversity

Societal pressure on farm inputs is increasing. On the one hand, fertilisers, pesticides and seeds have enormously improved the quality and yields of crop and food production while dealing with pest pressure and other threats on farms. On the other hand, the use of chemical is criticised for its environmental impacts and effects on human health. Seed development also has to deal with the intense debate on GMOs and new breeding techniques, such as CRISPR-Cas.

These trends and the shift towards sustainable agriculture will define your organisation’s portfolio of R&D, sales and marketing activities. Firms are expected to be increasingly involved in societal dialogues with farmers and other stakeholders in order to improve technology and the proper use of both chemical and natural resources.

At the same time, climate change increase extreme weather conditions such as droughts and heavy rains, which affect pest pressure and soil conditions. These provide a clear opportunity for the plant science sector to develop new, resilient farm inputs to face these challenges on farms.

Understand the societal cost-benefits of farm inputs and develop pathways to create a more sustainable mix.

Our robust research, sector knowledge and scalable tools bring you closer to achieving your sustainability goals.

Do you have questions about the Plant science sector and sustainability? Contact our expert: dr.ir. J (Johan) Bremmer

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Our sustainability management cycle:

1. Sustainability strategy development & review

We support you by scanning your portfolio to categorise the products according to societal footprint hotspots. For example, we may focus on what products are at risk of being phased out or cannot even reach the market. We develop a customised framework and metrics to measure the economic, social and environmental effects of your products, distinguishing between crop, country, soil and climate conditions. We deliver a relevant, ambitious and feasible strategy and a baseline insight into your sustainability performance. This is the foundation for further improvements.

2. Sustainability improvement plan

We help to develop a plan to improve the sustainability profile of your farm input portfolio. This includes running specific societal cost-benefit analyses on your products alongside, considering improvement opportunities on farms regarding sustainable input use. We assess effective interventions at farm level to positively influence farm behaviour, weighing up financial cost benefits, expected support and the likely social and environmental impact. Furthermore, we analyse societal acceptance of new inputs among farmers, consumers and other stakeholders. We facilitate focus groups and surveys to better understand acceptance and examine options of how to integrate this into your business operations, such as in your R&D cycle.

3. Integrated sustainability monitoring

We measure your progress by monitoring the sustainability profile of your portfolio and farm adoption levels of sustainable practices. Here, we distinguish between the factors that you can directly influence - portfolio set-up, as well as time and money invested in capacity building on farms, to name a few exemples - and ultimate impact goals, such as lower farm emissions, soil and water quality and biodiversity. We regularly provide monitoring data reports and presentations. We also deliver tailored, real-time dashboards and apps that you can share easily with your internal and external stakeholders.

4. Implementation

During implementation, we can provide support - in setting up training programmes and other capacity building exercises - on farms to positively influence farm behaviour and encourage more environmentally friendly farming. Building in our independent position, we can also facilitate societal dialogues with stakeholders from the farm input sector.

5. Sustainability impact evaluation

Thanks to our rigorous evaluation techniques, we can critically test whether your strategy has delivered. We report whether you can link specific observed effects with the interventions, which will help you to draw the right conclusions. Furthermore, we give insight into the cost-effectiveness. Our reports provide evidence of whether you are on the right track or that you have to adjust your sustainability plan striking the right balance between societal impact, investments and financial gains.

1. Sustainability measurement
We compare the economic and sustainability effects of your current farm input strategy with possible alternate strategies, such as new seeds and other farm management adjustments. We take into account different farm production information, for example farm size, yields and residues.
Examples
- Project: Environmental Indicator Crop Protection
- Project: Responsible Pest Management
2. Defining sustainable market segments
We assess the requirements of sustainable crop production in the long term. By segmentating crop farming areas based on environmental, economic and social data, we define expected changes per segment and farmer needs.
Examples
- Wageningen Food Views
3. Policy impact scenarios
We translate targets on farm input and land use to impacts at farm, sector, country, EU and global level, as well as on social, economic and environmental level.
Examples
- Green Deal diverse and uncertain farm income impacts
- Green Deal probably leads to lower agricultural yield

1. Sustainability measurement

Examples

2. Defining sustainable market segments

Examples

3. Policy impact scenarios

Examples