Background: A growing world population and increasing demand for food and non-food agricultural products puts high pressure on farming systems to intensify production. At the same time, it becomes more and more obvious, that intensifying conventional farming may be accompanied by severe negative environmental consequences, such as reduced bio- and agrobiodiversity, nutrient leaching to groundwater and rivers, eutrophication of lakes and the sea, and in particular loss of fertile soils due to erosion, nutrient loss and soil compaction. There are now several agricultural production techniques being developed that may allow for better maintenance of soil fertility and reducing negative environmental impacts of conventional farming in rural as well as urban and peri-urban contexts. However, it is yet unclear, if these farming techniques could be scaled up to attain the goal of food security and the demand for non-food products. Moreover, it needs to be better understood what role technology development e.g. precision farming might play in reducing environmental externalities of conventional farming systems and increasing return of soil-friendly agricultural practices. Finally, it needs to be revealed what would be necessary in terms of knowledge transfer and reforms of policies and regulations to set incentives for adopting sustainable soil management practices at farm level.
Goal: Understanding how sustainable soil management by appropriate agricultural production systems can contribute to sustainable food security, if and how these solutions can be scaled up and widely implemented on farm level.
Rationale from the themes: Demand: Sustainable handling and management of natural resources is indispensable for meet the increasing demand of a growing and affluent population for agricultural products while coping with other societal challenges such as climate change and a shrinking availability of arable soils due to urban development and afforestation. A rising demand challenges production systems to improve overall production that has to be supported by resource and energy efficient agricultural production systems. Land use, however, cannot be only considered under a productivity vision but sustainable handling and management is necessary to safeguard the environment and to protect productive soils in the long run.
Natural Capital: A well equilibrated balance between demand and supply for the multiple ecosystem goods and services produced by agriculture is essential for a sustainable development. For agriculture not only soil quantity but also soil quality is a crucial factor. A fertile unspoiled soil provides important structures (e.g. habitat for organisms) and functions (e.g. ability to catalyse biogeochemical cycles). A healthy soil with an adequate plant and tree cover is also an important stability factor with regard to erosion, landslides and avalanches. Intensification of conventional farming systems is reducing bio- and agrobiodiversity and thereby the ability to provide also other ecosystem services than just provisioning services. As soils and other environmental factors (e.g. climate, hydrology, topography) are locally highly different,
Land Management: An important role of land management is to balance the demand for and supply of resources and natural capital in rural areas. Land management includes on the hand the institutional capacity of local, regional and national governments to identify and protect vulnerable areas and to ensure long-term productive potential of agricultural land. It is key in this regard to match locally highly diverse soils and ecosystems with appropriate agricultural production systems. On the other hand, land management is also concerned with the availability of knowledge and new technologies at farm level to reduce negative environmental effects of highly productive agricultural systems as well as the incentives for farmers set by policy frameworks at EU and national levels to adopt new technology or adapted production techniques.
Net Impact: There is a call to improve the knowledge about socio-economic and environmental benefits and costs resulting from different land management strategies in particular to meet the societal goals of food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation, health as well as economic development and livability of rural areas. There is a need to better understand the impact of (agricultural) land use intensity and land use changes on ecosystem provision and (changes in) organic carbon, soil fertility, soil erosion or water quality; all necessary to safeguard long-term provision of agricultural products. There is also a need to raise social awareness on the pro and cons of dietary patterns as well as different agricultural production systems to stimulate market demand for more sustainably produced food and non-food products. Finally, it is necessary to understand what impact policies and regulations have on decisions taken at farm level to support decision-makers in land management and policy at different governmental levels.
So what? Understanding the potential of different agricultural production systems to achieve the goal of food security while sustain soil fertility and reduce negative environmental impacts coming along with intensification of conventional farming would clarify the role of these different techniques to. This is fundamental to increase knowledge about economic and technical aspects of organic farming, their advantages and disadvantages. It will provide knowledge to improve competitiveness and sustainability and will be useful for farmers and decision-makers in order to mainstream sustainable agricultural practices.
Links to other fields: There are linkages to other potential research topics, such as how to reconcile conflicts between different societal goals (e.g. food security, climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, reduced nutrient loads to waterbodies, etc.) or how to spatially optimize (local/regional) land uses (i.e. understanding local soil capacities / thresholds in terms of land use intensity and adapting land use accordingly).