Technology solutions for global challenges Mike Bushell Brussels 16 th October 2008.

Technology solutions forglobal challenges

Mike Bushell

Brussels 16th October 2008

Privileged and Confidential2

What’s Happening in Agriculture?

● Food price rises and protests worldwide

- Era of cheap food may be over?

- Plenty of speculation as to why the prices have risen

● Reawakening of interest in Agriculture

- Media, International agencies, Governments, NGO’s

- Humanitarian responses

- Policy development for the future

● Wake up call to the world

- The real challenge lies in planning now for sustainable systems that will feed 8 billion people before 2025 and >9 billion before 2050


The challenge of feeding 9 billion people

The world must grow more crops on the currently available land to meet the increasing demand for food, feed and fuel


Yield gains: further increases needed and possible


Higher yields reduce poverty


Technologies for Yield

● How have we met the increased demand since 1950’s?

● There are only 4 major technologies

- Mechanisation including irrigation

- Synthetic fertilisers (NPK)

- Crop Protection Chemicals (HIF)

- Better seeds


CP contribution to crop yields and remaining potential

23

50.2

31.540

1825.1

39.6

21.6

37.333.7

53.2 34.6

37.428.2 31.2 26.3 28.8

40.3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Rice Wheat Maize Soybean Cotton Potato

% t

heo

reti

cal

max

imu

m

Yield with no CP Extra yield from CP Remaining potential

Source: Crop Losses to Pests; E-C Oerke, Journal of Agricultural Science (2006), 144, 31-43


Drivers for agricultural fungal control : New disease issues and Resistance

● New disease pandemics can occur

● Example : Soybean rust - dramatic yield losses (up to 80%).

- Rapid spread from Zimbabwe in 1998 to S. Africa, S. America and USA by 2004

● Septoria tritici in EU wheat

- Strobilurin resistance

- Rapid spread

Fungicide treated vs. untreated soya in Brazil


Formulation Science – a key technology area

● Example : Adjuvant can improve activity by :

- increasing droplet spread - leaf uptake

● Controlled Release

- Immediate or extended action

No adjuvant

With adjuvant


“Seed enhancement system“ -> selected AI‘s in appropriate ratios

-> seed technology (e.g. disinfection, priming, coating, pelleting)

Seed Treatment Technology


Biotechnology provides powerful tools for seed innovation

● Biotechnology - Transgenic crops

- Introduces genes from other species e.g. insect resistance, vitamin content

- Stacked traits

● Precision breeding

- Modern techniques improve efficiency and speed of conventional breeding

- Traits native to species (drought tolerance, enhanced yield, disease resistance)

- Usually complex multi-gene traits

Undifferentiated transformed plants under selection


Marker Assisted Trait Selection

Early screening to reduce selection costs in germplasm improvement

Healthy Diseased

disease resistance

marker ID’ed

disease-resistant plants selected by markers

DNA analysis of young plants


Meeting the demand for better food and more choice

● Our technology enhances the flavor and nutritional content in food

● Kumato tomatoes are among the tastiest and juiciest you can buy

● Dulcinea seedless watermelon have great sweet watermelon flavor with less waste

● Toscanella tomato are a direct response to consumer demand for a tastier high quality tomato


Agricultural output suffering from unsustainable water use

Source: World Bank, World Development Report 2008, p. 183

Yellow Riverrunning dry on last 100 km:1972: 15 days1996: 133 days1997: 226 days

Lake AralOnly ~25% of original size

Rio Grandefailed to reach the Gulf of Mexico in 2001 for first time

Water stress indicator in major basins

Overexploited(more than 1.0)Heavily exploited(0.8 to 1.0)Moderately exploited(0.5 to 0.8)Slightly exploited(0 to 0.5)

‘Food supply’ bubble

~15-35% of irrigation unsustainable

Depletion of aquifers for growing demand

Local water scarcities

Wheat yields, China: minus ~23% in 8 yrs

Cotton area, Australia: minus ~30% in 2 yrs


Drought Tolerant Corn

● Multiple new trait constructs currently in field trials

● Native traits and functional genomics

● Several lead gene candidates with excellent drought tolerance


WHEAT: Invinsa delayed senescence in both stems/leaves and heads when applied at flag leaf and/or heading stage

ControlInvinsa

Invinsa UTCOil

Chemical approaches to crop enhancement


What is Sustainable food production?

Strategies & Practices that promote the long term well being of the environment, society & the farming economy. To meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs*

*Brundtland Commission Definition of Sustainable Development

Environmental Protection

Environmental Protection

Welfare of Rural

Communities

Welfare of Rural

Communities

Improved Productivity

Improved Productivity

Sustainablefarming

Sustainablefarming

Triple bottom line – Economic, Social, Environmental


What is in a typical carbon footprint?

Conventional Corn(Iowa, Rain-fed, 175 bu/ac)

~3 lb C/bu

& FertilizerApplication

37%

Nitrous Oxide31%

Tillage &OtherOperations

6%

& Crop ProtectionApplication

6%

Seed & Planting3%

Harvest & Drying17%

Note: footprints can also be developed for water and other elements of sustainability


Modern technologies play an important role in sustainable production

Lower Impact Higher Impact

Eliminating tillage

Decreasing fuel use

Optimizing Fertilizer Practices

Preventing Pest Losses

Cover crops and N2O Emissions

Reducing Pesticide

ApplicationsManaging

biodiversity

Using less water and pumping energyThe primary impact

of CP is enabling other improvements


Corn and soybean– nitrogen use efficiency and drought tolerance traits


Syngenta CP products help in Sustainable Ag

Improved water use efficiency

Improved nitrogen use efficiency

Optimal water solubility for high efficiency drip irrigation

Improved vigor and drought tolerance

Soybeans Brazil

Untreated

Examples

Improved water use efficiency

Source: Syngenta


Improving root growth

Agrisure RW

IsolineBt corn rootworm resistance

Cruiser seed treatment


Sustainability factors

✔ Soil

✔ Water

✔ Energy

✔ Waste

✔ Productivity

✔ Environment

Quantity & Quality

Minimise use / Crop Footprint

Minimise / Valorise as energy

Economics / Reduce land use changes

Fertility / Moisture / Erosion


Cover crop April

Desiccatedcover crop September

Cover cropre-generated

November

Erosion on conventional

plot September


Reduced methane production and water use in rice through no-till, hybrid rice and irrigation technology


Corn and Sugarcane ethanol efficiency improvement

alpha-amylase

Endogenouscellulase enzymes


Tropical sugarbeet in Sudan – new high yields in dry conditions


Protecting the environment …

● Our products help:

- farmers to adapt to changing climate conditions

- to prevent soil erosion

- to conserve water

- To manage biodiversity locally

- reduce the need to expand farmland into natural habitats


Summary – Meeting the global challenge

● Technology is a critical component of the solution

- What we need is here today; promise of more for the future

● The question is, how can we deploy technology safely in sustainable agricultural systems locally?

● Many problems to be overcome

- Climate Change

- Technophobia

- Infrastructure, Policy, Regulation, Finance

- Investment in creating a rural economy that sustains itself

- Training – reinvigorating agricultural extension services

● Effective Public Private Partnerships


Our company

Technology solutions for global challenges Mike Bushell Brussels 16 th October 2008.

Documents

Transcript of Technology solutions for global challenges Mike Bushell Brussels 16 th October 2008.