Agriculture and forestry

What kind of food will we eat in the future? Can algae and jellyfish be an alternative food source? Are conventional technologies sufficient to make food production and the agricultural system fit for the future and to ensure a healthy and sufficient diet for all?

With a yield of 100 million tons per year the sweet potato has become the seventh most important crop in the world, and even continues to gain popularity worldwide and in Germany. Thus, researchers are also focussing more and more on this extraordinary plant.

European forests have to accommodate a multitude of requirements: they have to be a resource provider as well as a nearby recreational area. At the same time forests also need to be more and more resilient in the face of extreme weather occurrences. This resilience will be the focus of the new office of the European Forest Institute (EFI) in Bonn. The official inauguration with Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Christian Schmidt at the UN campus in Bonn took place on August 29.

The two-phase sale of Icon Genetics was completed on August 21. Icon Genetics previous owner, German plant biotechnology company NOMAD Bioscience GmbH, already sold 51% of Icon's shares to Denka in August 2015. Now, the Japanese company has acquired the remaining 49% of shares, resulting in Icon Genetics becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Denka. According to a press release, the total acquisition amount to be paid by DENKA is a maximum of €75 million.

“Environmental policy is part of agriculture.” This was a clear message by Christian Schmidt, the Federal Minister of Agriculture, at the recent  “Dialogue for the future: Agriculture and Food”. Thus far this sector is under a lot of pressure due to its high CO₂ Emissions. The demands for more sustainability in terms of farming and animal husbandry have been at the top of the political agenda for some time now. However, there are already a number of farms that fully embrace a resource-saving and environmentally conscious production.

Fossil resources are becoming scarce and their use is a burden on the environment. Therefore new technologies to replace these resources are needed. Part of the replacement can be achieved by employing electrical power production based on renewable resources, such as wind and solar energy. Additionally, renewable feedstocks and waste streams have to be considered as valuable precursors for the production of commodities and fuels.

Global warming and climate change are driven by greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, plants and algae act as natural air filters, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and replacing it with oxygen. About half of the photosynthesis on Earth is performed in the ocean by single-celled algae. Plants and algae both use the enzyme Rubisco to bind carbon dioxide.

Wood is a very versatile material that can be reused multiple times. However, such recycling or cascade utilisation is very rare in Europe. In Germany, old wood is mostly used for energy generation and is thus simply burnt instead of using it for instance as building material. 15 project partners from five different countries banned together in the EU project CaReWood (Cascading Recovered Wood) to improve resource efficiency by recycling used wood via cascade utilisation.

Due to climate change more and more arable land is drying out, and subsequently requires irrigation in order to grow crops. However, steady and heavy irrigation causes soil salination, because the salts that are dissolved in the water are diffused into the soil and remain there after the water has evaporated. The salt in turn stunts the growth of the crops and, if left untreated, can even turn soils infertile.