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President’s Address BCPC Glasgow 2003

10 November 2003

I began my address to the Congress in Brighton last November by illustrating the need for BCPC to change. A year later change has happened not only are we in Glasgow, but the conference really is different.

1. BCPC has widened its base to include all aspects of crop production.
2. The conference has been restructured:
• Glasgow is a splendid new venue;
• This congress offers more themes, with greater variety of sessions;
• You will have greater opportunities to participate.

We have a parallel complimentary theme – a forum – Focus on Food, which clearly demonstrates the broadening of BCPC’s interest but also the delegates as well. It also supports the need to think consumer.
But vital elements of the traditional format remain:

1. The opportunity to meet face-to-face;
2. The discussion of scientific advance to be of practical use to farmers and growers.

The provision of forums, where science and practice meet, remains a major function of BCPC. It is reflected not only by the quality of you the delegates and your enthusiasm for the content of this Conference, but also in our events and publications throughout the year.

I add this detail because a surprising number of people still harbour two misconceptions – I would wish to stress:

1. BCPC runs much more than a Congress;
2. BCPC is an umbrella group that brings together the best with any interest in the science and practice of crop production;
3. BCPC is recognised around the globe by loyal supporters – when you have been running an international meeting for more than 20 years that attracts delegates from over 70 countries – this is important.

In fact, the very variety of organisations, which are actually members of BCPC presents us with a challenge, when we search for an accurate definition for the organisation. BCPC has always been the body that provides a forum for all with a legitimate interest in the science, practice, and very importantly the consequences across the world of crop production.

The very success of those global production systems is now the subject of close scrutiny and some considerable criticism on the grounds of its sustainability, both production methods and the air (food) miles involved. Coherent policies for agriculture, which achieve even a reasonable degree of popular acclaim, have yet to emerge either in the UK or in Europe. This is in part due to the inconvenient, but inescapable fact that urban man does not understand life processes.

There are three major themes that BCPC must keep under continual review, if we are to succeed:

• The changing circumstances instituted by the politics in the arena in which agriculture operates;
• Huge advances in the volume and complexity of scientific knowledge;
• The increasing concerns of the general public in the shape of a media-led by single issue groups (who discredit science), coupled with a greater desire for participation in policy formulation and its implementation.

Agriculture

Economically sustainable agriculture is an essential prerequisite for any future policy to be successful.

The primary factors shaping agriculture are economics and demand. Demand nowadays means much more than food while at the same time meaning 'food at a certain price or in other words CHEAP FOOD!'

The principal drivers for and against change are science and technology, legislation and public opinion.

As part of our BCPC programme we have recently looked at agriculture and the world of 2020 to assess what the demand for food and energy will be and what resources will be available to those who will have to confront this challenge.

Our projections indicated that by 2020, if the world is to be fed, huge increases in crop production will be needed or starvation will increase. This is only in part due to population increase, but also increasing demand in developing countries for meat in their diet a function of improving living standards and increasing urbanisation. China is building new cities of 200,000 people per new city to move people off the land!!! Worryingly the same projections showed that the EU would be a two-bit player, not increasing its crop output to help meet world food needs. This is consistent with a view that the EU will be introverted for many years, as it grapples with the development of EU infra structure, (e.g. EU financial systems; the integration of the accession, EU constitution), whilst just expecting food production to be there, which I doubt it will.

Our major conclusions were:

• Our increased understanding of plant science over the next two decades, and beyond, will be unprecedented and will provide huge opportunities for mankind throughout the 21st century.

Plant biotechnology will make a significant contribution to sustainable world food production. It will offer exciting new ways of using plants to capture the sun’s energy to provide us with renewable sources of energy and other valuable materials for society at large.

Absolutely critical to the success of crop biotechnology over the next two decades will be:

• Public acceptance;
• Transparent regulation;
• Scientists must improve their ability to communicate.

Why is it that at gatherings such as this one a considerable majority of the scientists present are excited and enthused about the prospects for plant science in all its applications while at public gatherings in Europe a considerable majority will be totally opposed? Many of the benefits of biotechnology can be achieved without recourse to the release of GM crops but the public debate has been almost only about this single issue.

• Both the USA and China are actively embracing plant biotechnology, whereas the UK and Europe run a serious risk of losing long-term competitiveness, despite the potential that the accession countries will bring to crop production in Europe.

The train is about to leave the station……... The EU, and therefore UK, does not wish to be a passenger.

The Future for European Agriculture
As the accession countries begin to make a greater impact, what pattern of agricultural production and consequent crop protection will emerge in Europe? By general agreement it will need to be a more sustainable approach.

There are ten positive attributes that define sustainable systems of land management and agricultural production. They are:

1. Substantially reliant on renewable inputs; thus maximises efficient use of resources;
2. Stable over many generations;
3. Pollution minimised;
4. Socially acceptable;
5. Profitable;
6. Enhances biodiversity;
7. Manages valued landscapes;
8. Does not export dirty problems;
9. Changes to the system are reversible;
10. Responsive to changing requirements and constraints (e.g. population growth and climate change).

There are a number of common themes that define a future agenda in support of the drive towards greater sustainability.

In no order of priority these drivers for scientific research are:

1. Reduce reliance on fossil fuels;
2. Improve nutrient recycling;
3. Effective pest, disease and weed control, whilst diminishing reliance on synthetic chemistry;
4. Enhancing and exploiting biodiversity;
5. Increasing efficacy of resource through genetic improvement of crops;
6. Practices to improve our care of heritage and natural resources;
7. Further minimising diffuse pollution;
8. Non-food uses of crops (“crops as natural production plants”).

There are social and economic forces as well as technical considerations that will slow progress. In BCPC we think that the following will be particularly relevant.

The major factors impacting the drive for more sustainable production include the following:

1. A skills shortage throughout the land management sector will prove a major impediment to change away from current (intensive) production systems.
2. There is a need to integrate the agendas of funding agencies so that a coherent long term plan (10 years +) for the achievement of greater sustainability can be set in train.
3. A framework will be needed to permit access for public sector research to valuable genetic resources currently held in the private sector.
4. Scientists will need re-motivating to address projects with immediate practical impact and to ensure that fundamental research is conducted with knowledge of “real world” problems that need solution.

There is a need to reconnect the public perception of the science surrounding:

1. Land management practices and food production;
2. Risks and benefits: (for example the ever-increasing sensitivity of analytical technologies). This can be coupled with a need to explain how MRLs are set and exactly why it is that the rare occasions when produce is found to contain residues above the MRL that this is not an immediate threat to the health of the nation!
3. There is a need to establish a clear regulatory framework for the validation of claims for health benefit in food products.

BCPC’s Strategic Targets

BCPC has become particularly interested in the following topics in relation to sustainability:

1. How to optimise co-operative action among land managers/farmers/those groups interested in the sustainability of production systems
2. How to inform and involve the public about the issues
3. Soil management practices
4. How to deliver financial rewards in return for delivering "public goods"
5. How to provide better access to information for the changed priorities in land management

All of them figure either in the current programme for the Congress or in BCPC events pencilled in for our future programme. I welcome you most warmly to our new venue here in Glasgow and to our broader approach to crop production. Tell us what you like and do not like, only by doing so will we provide you with better seminars. I hope we will continue to welcome you to our events. Above all enjoy it.

Hugh Oliver-Bellasis FRAgS