The European Commission has proposed a plan for a sustainable food system, which aims to transform the EU’s agricultural system and make it more sustainable and safer from a human health perspective.
A plan centred on the food sustainability strategy, which seeks to protect the environment and ensure healthy food, as well as safeguarding farmers’ livelihoods.
The European Commission’s plan is to achieve all of the following objectives:
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Reduce pesticide use in agriculture by 50% over the next decade
Balanced mineral nutrition can affect a plant’s natural resistance mechanism and improve tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Prevention is better than cure.‘Nutrients can reduce disease to an acceptable level, or at least to a level at which further control by other cultural practices or conventional organic biocides are more successful and less expensive‘.
(Dordas 2008).
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Reduce nutrient losses by at least 50%, while ensuring that soil fertility does not deteriorate
In line with this goal, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines “Hidden Hunger” as “micronutrient deficiencies, that occur when the quality of food that people eat does not meet their nutrient requirements, so they are not getting the essential vitamins and minerals they need for their growth and development”.
To reduce this harmful effect, agricultural production must:- Produce foods with specific basic compositions.
- Maximise crop production efficiency and monitor nutrient dilution as yields increase.
- Apply a balanced and strategic fertilization management that helps to safeguard quality.
- Do not neglect the effective incorporation of nutrients, through proper fertilizer management, during food production.
The benefits of foliar fertilisers are numerous, as foliar feeding of the plant can
increase the efficiency of nutrient uptake (up to 8–9 times higher assimilation rate compared to soil-applied nutrients).
In this way, soil fertility and agricultural sustainability go hand in hand.‘There is abundant evidence showing the beneficial effect of foliar fertilizers in terms of improving the metabolism, quality, and yields of crops. ‘(Fernández and Brown 2013).
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Reduce sales of antimicrobials for farm and aquaculture animals by 50%
There is scientific evidence to show that the use of certain feed additives can contribute to the reduction of traditional antimicrobials.
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In the past two decades, an intensive amount of research has been focused on the development of alternatives to antibiotics to maintain swine health and performance.
The most widely researched alternatives include probiotics, prebiotics, acidifiers, plant extracts and neutraceuticals such as copper and zinc
.’ (Thacker 2013).
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To increase the share of organic agriculture by 25% by 2030.
There is a wide range of macro- and micro-element sources applicable to organic farming that could be freely used in an environmentally friendly way.
These objectives are largely in line with the goals of agricultural production to combat “Hidden Hunger”, which are:
- Produce foods with specific basic compositions.
- Maximise crop production efficiency and monitor nutrient dilution as yields increase.
- Apply a balanced and strategic fertilization management that helps to safeguard quality.
- Do not neglect the effective incorporation of nutrients, through proper fertilizer management, during food production.
A plan that requires everyone’s effort to achieve and that entails a change in the way we produce, buy and consume food in order to reduce climate change and protect the livelihoods of the actors involved in the food chain.
