We interviewed five of our key speakers from the forthcoming sustainable agriculture conference regarding their views on the developments, innovations and key drivers affecting the industry.

We asked Henk Joos, Chief Executive Officer of Quinvita what he considered to be the major issues facing the development of a truly sustainable agriculture sector; “we need to analyse the need of different legislations. It is clear that the issues are very different in with heavily subsidized agriculture in Europe and the USA vs say Africa where we need to focus more on primary needs like food AND energy production.”

We also asked Henry Neufeldt, Head of Climate Change Research at ICRAF - World Agroforestry Centre his thoughts on what is meant by the term sustainable agriculture; “Sustainable agriculture is one that will not deprive us of the ability to generate food, fodder, fibre, fuel and other products in the future. While the term is well established, it does not account future changes due to climate change, and the importance of adaptation to and mitigation of climate change in the agriculture and food sector. “

Magnus Marklund, Chief Executive Officer of ETC Pitea was asked to give his stance on the statement “An agriculture sector that is truly sustainable cannot incorporate purpose grown bio-feedstocks and agri residues must be used to feed the new bioenergy sector.” He responded that “truly sustainable agricultural businesses are likely to be largely integrated with the bioenergy sector and should act jointly for an efficient product valorization based on a variety of different feedstocks.”

Finally, we asked what the most important recent innovations in the sector are. Nikos Brouzos, Biofuels Sustainability Compliance Officer, Galp Energia states; “I wouldn’t want to highlight a specific one yet I truly believe that increasing awareness on the matter by pointing out the true upsides of sustainable agriculture is the best means of promoting the concept itself alongside associated innovation in the field.”

Join the debate and hear more from these speakers at the inaugural Sustainable Agriculture Conference takes place as part of the 8th annual World Biofuels Congress & Exhibition. The conference features more expert speakers who will deliberate and debate with the agricultural community on effective ways to further drive efficiency within the industry. 

For more information and to view the full interviews visit www.worldbiofuelsmarkets.com/SustainableAgriculture2013

 

"Sustainable agriculture is one that will not deprive us of the ability to generate food."