Review: “Farm to Fork Discussion: Increasing Sustainability and Securing Supply”

On October 20, 2022, the "Farm to Fork Discussion: Increasing Sustainability and Securing Supply" took place in Berlin and on livestream, organized by the Grain Club alliance of associations together with other German and European agricultural and food industry associations. On the panel were representatives from the German Bundestag and the EU Commission as well as from the conservation organization WWF, the scientific and the business community.

The event has been met with broad interest. Among 240 guests and viewers in the livestream from Germany and around the world were representatives of politics, embassies, non-governmental organizations, research, science, media, industry and associations.

The debate focused on the joint efforts of all participants to achieve the sustainability goals of the EU Commission's Farm to Fork strategy while avoiding production declines and yield losses. It was an important concern of the agricultural industry to send a signal to politics and society that our industry is ready to make changes towards greater sustainability and that practical applications are already tangible. Increasing efficiency through innovations and technological progress, such as digitalization and precise application techniques, are a real alternative to flat reduction targets under the Green Deal, for example in the use of crop protection products. The potentials of area-specific fertilization, robotics, new genomic techniques, among others, were discussed. It was widely agreed that in implementing the Farm to Fork strategy, more incentives need to be created for farmers, business and industry to develop and apply new technologies. 

Energy Efficiency Campaign of the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA): energie.bga.de