Agriculture occupies almost 74% of the UK land surface. Foresight’s report, ‘Land Use Futures‘ notes three main drivers of agricultural land use in the UK: agricultural policy, the conditions in international markets, and the technologies that markets and regulation introduce to the sector all play primary roles in determining what farmers produce on their land and how they produce it.

The report states that a rise in global population, strains on natural resources, climate change and changes in diets will put additional pressure on the land used in agriculture. The study highlights the importance for action to be taken to improve on agricultural productivity whilst reducing its impact on the environment.

The report offers the following recommendations for ensuring that the way agricultural land is used today can meet future needs:

Greater investment in science and technology, requiring collaborations among many public and private stakeholders, will help to accelerate sustainable practices of land use in agriculture whilst helping to improve the productivity of agriculture.

Maintaining high-quality farmland and supporting infrastructures such as land drainage systems will become of greater necessity in the advent of climate change and increased global demand for food and energy.

The multiple roles of agriculture that benefit society, other than food production, must be recognised, for example:   

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The UK food industry is worth £80 billion and employs 3.6 million people. Driven by the triple threat of a growing population, the threat of climate change and a vulnerable supply of natural resources, the new policy by Defra outlines what the UK government perceives to be priority actions for the future, including:

• increasing the amount of food grown in Britain
• reducing the impact of agriculture upon the environment
• reducing agricultural emissions by the equivalent of 3 million tonnes of CO₂ by 2020
• reviewing the impacts of UK consumption on agricultural economies in the rest of the world
• addressing the issue of waste through reuse, recycling or energy generation
• informing consumers about healthy, sustainable food choices.

The policy also spells out plans to double its investment in agricultural research to £80 million by 2013, with a focus on helping farmers in developing nations.  Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State of Defra, said:

By turning research into practical ideas, and by learning from what the best are doing, we can achieve a lot more. Science will also tell us when nature is under strain.

‘Food 2030’ seeks to improve the UK food industry from production to distribution, providing better resources to farmers, whilst using natural resources sustainably to help the global food industry.  Benn said:

We need to increase food production to feed a growing world population – there’ll be another 2-3 billion people in 40 years.

The Financial Times reports that plans detailing how these changes will be effectuated, including any necessary new legislation, will be released in the coming months.

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According to its website, IPNI is:

a not-for-profit, science-based organization with a focus on agronomic education and research support…. The mission of IPNI is to develop and promote scientific information about the responsible management of plant nutrition for the benefit of the human family.

IPNI has a global presence with programmes in China, India, Southeast Asia, Northern Latin America, Brazil, Latin America-Southern Cone, the United States, and Canada, plus a new presence in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and soon to be in Australia.

Its initiatives address the world’s growing need for food, fuel, fiber, and feed as well as global issues such as climate change and the relationship of crop production to the environment and ecosystems.

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