Interview: How research can help solve global food crisis[fr][de] 

Riba highlights a number of puzzling challenges facing policymakers across the world when dealing with growing strains on food supplies amid a global population explosion, among which land use competition between urban and rural areas, adaptation to climate change – in particular water resources – and ensuring sufficient food at reasonable prices without endangering the environment. 

However, the challenges related to sustainable food production cannot be solved by technological research alone, Riba argues. "We can't only focus on agronomic research," he told EurActiv. "The key is to have an integrated approach." 

According to Riba, this means integrating into a single system advances made through genetics, agronomy, pathology, technology, economy and sociology, for example. "We are losing a lot of time because some very interesting innovations are not integrated. For example, what is the point in increasing the yield of some crops in one region if neither the farmer organisation nor the infrastructure to get the crops to market is improved?," he noted. 

"We must mix researchers and stakeholders from the beginning," he said, adding that geneticians, agronomists, pathologists, sociologists, economists, private firms and farmers need to work around the same table at the same speed.

Another research challenge is to improve diagnosis of diseases and pests as well as of water, soil and air quality, as "we are currently losing a lot of time and money on identifying the problems" once, for example, a new plant disease occurs.

As for sustainable food production, Riba argued that "it is very important to diversify agriculture, much more than is done today" and to cultivate new plants and use species that are not yet used or only employed on a small scale. "First, we need to diversify genetic resources, thus diversify the species we use and, secondly, diversify the genetic bases within each species."

This can, according to him, be done through molecular biology , which allows the required types and traits from the plants' genetic resources to be selected. By using molecular markers , interesting traits of genetic packages of wheat can be combined, for example. The same applies for fruits and vegetables. "If you have a very large base of genetic variety, the varieties will be more easily adaptable and more robust to climate changes," explained Riba. 

Asked what kind of solution genetically modified (GM) crops represent, he said that "we must use GMOs when we are not able to develop new traits without this approach. If we can do with another way, we will do it the other way." While transgenesis is "not the panacea," it is a necessary tool as "we already know that some traits cannot be modified without it," he added. 

Topics he would like to see on the European agricultural research agenda thus include exploring the natural potential of existing species and varieties as well as the creation of innovation that end-users can adopt. A lot of money is being spent on cloning different genes and producing new methodologies which "nobody uses because they are not known or adapted to end-users," he argued, emphasising the need to consider inventions and transfer at the same time and to involve farmers in particular from the beginning.  

Riba also stressed the need to increase capacity to conceive and anticipate the future. "We need much more foresight and we need to share it. A lot of foresight is being produced but it just finishes on some bookshelf," he deplored, underlining the importance of sharing such studies and keeping them under constant consideration when formulating agricultural research programmes.

To read the full interview, please click here.