The Balance between People and Nature

"What do you think about the endless monocultures in our country? When I'm on the train, I just see these endless landscapes of wheat fields, where have our colorful meadows gone?"

This was one of the first questions I was asked by a participant when taking part in a panel as part of an agricultural dialogue. I imagined these meadows and their beautiful blooms, and said: "Yes, we would all love to see colorful meadows and completely organic agriculture. And in our case, we can indeed still hope for it, because hardly any other region in the world experiences as few natural disasters, typhoons, tornadoes or droughts as ours does. This is why Europe is also considered a prime location and why, for example, as one of the few places in the world with a temperate climate, it has the largest grain supply in the world. This grain supply is still used to feed many other countries."

But what does this answer actually mean? When the question of flowering meadows and biodiversity was raised, it highlighted the need to weigh up how we choose between more nature and more people. This isn't an easy decision, but is one that our teams at Agricultural Solutions consider every day. It is a valid question and therefore important to us. What exactly is feasible and how? How do we turn a dilemma into a solution? Under which conditions and at what cost? And how do we shape the discussion surrounding sustainable agriculture?

Understanding Dilemmas

In order to find solutions, we must first address some of the paradoxes and dilemmas we are currently facing:

• Standing at around 8 billion people, the world's population has tripled since 1950, while cultivated areas have more than halved in the same period. At present, completely organic farming methods are only capable of feeding just half of these approximately 8 billion people. To be able to feed the global population in 2050, total food production must be increased by around 50%.
• As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chains are currently under a lot of strain and local produce is increasingly in demand. This includes items like organic apples. However, supermarket customers tend to buy the polished, shiny apples and leave the spotty, wrinkled ones behind.
• Everyone is concerned about locust infestations, such as those recently seen in East Africa, but the use of insecticides, the only effective remedy currently available, is generally frowned upon.
• A major cause of pandemics is the ever-increasing proximity of civilization and nature. Furthermore, the world population is continuing to grow. There is reason to fear that COVID-19 will increase poverty around the world, leaving many people without enough money for good food.

For thousands of years, we humans have been constantly changing our environment. And although a great deal of information about the consequences of these interventions is available to us, we still find it difficult to develop joint and coordinated actions using this information. Do we simply have to accept this?

We certainly don't think so. We believe that discussion is simply the beginning, which is why we have begun inviting all the relevant voices in society to this discussion. Listening means seeing things from another person's point of view — you need to understand others before you can be understood. This applies to everyone involved in the discussion. In essence, it is about finding the right balance between the demands of our environment and the growing global society.

Combining Ecological, Conventional and Digital Spheres of Action

Until recently, the growth of humanity has always been linked to progress in agriculture. These two factors have always been mutually dependent, simultaneous and reciprocal. Could solutions also lie outside this space?

BASF also produces crop protection products for organic farming. The company currently offers sulfur, microorganisms and pheromones as biological insecticides and more products will certainly follow. Treating seeds against diseases and pests will also increase demand for more ecology.

Agriculture, like all other sectors, is facing a period of digital transformation: We are now able to collect data on crops that will allow the farmer to make accurate decisions. Why is this important? Because it is the only way to achieve "less": the use of fewer resources, more precise application of these resources, protection of the environment and at the same time the increase in efficiency that is necessary to support a continuously growing population.

It will also enable us to learn how to adapt plants to climate-related changes more quickly, making them less vulnerable or require less water. Digital agriculture is the perfect opportunity to successfully combine economy and ecology. This also includes implementing biotechnological innovations.

In agriculture, there is no miraculous solution for every issue. This is precisely why we at the German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE) have recommended that bold steps for an "agricultural turnaround" be implemented as part of the German sustainability strategy. This involves a combination of several measures, including modern fertilizer spreading technology, digital solutions, breeding plant varieties that are more tolerant of heat and drought in preparation for climate change and, to support those in the industry, setting up a mobile broadband network and efficient approval processes, so that biodiversity can also be improved through more precise application of these measures.

Our main concern when solving a dilemma is finding the right balance. Our team has been discussing this ambition for a long time and has made a very conscious decision to do so. We are also discussing the dilemmas we are currently facing with our friends, neighbors and family. Making a real contribution here is something that is close to our hearts. We believe that it is possible to combine several conflicting goals and find a solution that adds value for society, the company and the environment.

We have been passionate about food and agriculture for over 100 years and the current team is dedicated to finding a new balance. But this can only be achieved through open discussion. We would therefore like to invite all relevant voices in society to support and, above all, help shape the future of sustainable agriculture.

The crisis will pass, but what remains is the question: how do we succeed together in creating a better balance for the future of agriculture?