Greenpeace European Unit Towards sustainable agriculture Marco Contiero EU Policy Director – Agriculture Greenpeace European Parliament 8 December

Greenpeace European Unit We need to feed the world

Greenpeace European Unit Productivity narrative  World population 9.2 billion in 2050  Increasing meat in Emerging economies’ diets  Increase in agricultural productivity is slowing down  Natural resource constraints  Climate change impacts limit food production Solution: Increase agricultural productivity How: 1. High yielding intensive farming 2. Modern technologies

Greenpeace European Unit Sustainable Intensification = Produce More From Less

Greenpeace European Unit Problems How do we feed 9 billion people in 2050? How do we feed 7 billion people today? How to continually provide enough nutritious food to all? How to provide enough water, education, sanitation…? How to increase equality in distribution and access to food Focus on yield fails to address political and economic issues preventing people access to safe and nutritious food.

Greenpeace European Unit Current situation

Greenpeace European Unit GMOs

Greenpeace European Unit

1. Risks Prone to unintended and unpredictable effects 1. Complex regulation mechanisms of genes 2. Complex interaction with plants metabolism 3. Complex interactions plant‘s genes and its environment 4. Inserted genes may - disrupt the plant's own genes - be unstable in their new environment - function differently than expected (producing diff. protein) 5. Fragments and Rearrangements

Greenpeace European Unit 2. Environmental impacts Insect-resistant crops: 1. Toxicity to ‘non-target’ organisms and beneficial insects. 2. Threats to soil and river ecosystems 3. Development of insect resistance Herbicide tolerant (HT) crops: 1. Toxic effects of herbicides on ecosystems. 2. Increased weed tolerance to herbicide 3. Loss of native flora and other biodiversity. 4. Effects on soil-plant system (e.g. microbial community, manganese uptake).

Greenpeace European Unit Intensive systems- Glyphosate

Greenpeace European Unit Glyphosate resistant weeds

Greenpeace European Unit Syngenta BASF DuPont Monsanto Bayer Dow Source: ETC Group 3. Corporate control GM Crops market 100%

Greenpeace European Unit Syngenta BASF DuPont Monsanto Other Bayer Dow Syngenta BASF DuPont Monsanto Bayer Dow Global Agrochemical Market Source: ETC Group 3. Corporate control GM Crops market 100% 74%

Greenpeace European Unit Owners of the Seed Market Source: ETC Group 39% 57%

Greenpeace European Unit Owners of the Seed Market Source: ETC Group 47% 67%

Greenpeace European Unit Owners of the Seed Market Source: ETC Group

Greenpeace European Unit Since 1960s: 8,000 crop varieties by CGIAR 72,500 proprietary plant varieties 1,900, million plant varieties bred by peasants Science for diversity Vs. Science for uniformity

Greenpeace European Unit I. Agro-ecology UN Report Human Rights Council [United Nations,Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, 2011] - Agroforestry - Water harvesting - Integration of livestock into farming systems - Integrated nutrient management J. Pretty analysis 286 sustainable agriculture projects (57 poor countries) - Average crop increase 79 % - Supply critical environmental services UNCTAD UNEP analysis [UNEP-UNCTAD, 2008] UK Foresight Report (40 projects, 20 African countries) - Average crop increase in Africa 116% and - Average crop increase in East Africa 128% Can double food production in 10 years 4. Hinder sustainable solutions

Greenpeace European Unit Nitrogen to the soil, Increased resilience, more carbon stored, increased maize yields by 280% in Malawi Agroforestry – Evergreen Agriculture Maize fields in Tanzania - World Agroforestry Centre Faidherbia albida

Greenpeace European Unit

Biotechnology

Greenpeace European Unit Modern Biotechnology ‘Smart Breeding’

Greenpeace European Unit Flood-tolerant rice Thrives after being submerged for 10 to 15 days

Greenpeace European Unit Drought-tolerant rice The Philippines – El Niño from December

Greenpeace European Unit Saline-tolerant rice Rice paddies near sea – Climate Change & Typhoons

Greenpeace European Unit Holstein cow –650 kg bodyweight –Typically produce 8,000 litres / year –Average 3.5 lactations –2.5 tonnes purchased feed per year –1.5 acres of land –Feed brought to cow –Manure spread by machine Source: Tom Malleson

Greenpeace European Unit Grazing cow –450kg bodyweight –Typically produce 5,000 litres / year –For 6 lactations or more –0,5 tonnes purchased feed per year –One acre of land –Harvests most of her own feed –Spreads most of her own manure –Virtually no diesel required! Source: Tom Malleson

Greenpeace European Unit Thank You!