New perspectives: Sustainable technological development in agriculture.

New long term perspectives on fulfilling our (basic) needs for food and short term actions to work on these perspectives are necessary. In agriculture in The Netherlands and elsewhere there are currently many economic and environmental problems. This situation is further aggravated by trends towards liberalization of world trade, a demanding environmental policy, technological progress and fewer price subsidies for agricultural production. The next four decades will bring a considerable growth in the world's population and an increasing welfare. This will lead to a sharp increase in the demand for food. If sustainable development is to become a reality, the environmental efficiency (i.e, the use of energy, space and raw materials) of current agricultural production methods must be increased with a factor of 20 by 2040. This is a challenge for a technological breakthrough. In the contribution 'New Perspectives: Sustainable Technological Development in Agriculture' two sustainable perspectives and action agendas, which are studied at the Dutch research program Sustainable Technological Development (STD), will be discussed. The first perspective is the development of protein foods which are attractive to both consumers and manufacturers. These products must be able to meet in the future consumer demands in the same way as meat does, but their production in environmental terms must be at least 20 times more environmentally efficient than current meat production in The Netherlands.. Research points out that in 2040 novel protein foods will occupy 40% of the meat market. The second perspective, sustainable land use, is focusing on the rural area. The essentials of this perspective are the integration of "new" functions like the gaining of water and energy, the processing of organic waste and the management of nature and culture into the production of food and raw materials for industry. This should lead to new business opportunities both for farmers and other parties like energy and water companies and a production which in environmental terms is 10 times more efficient. Market parties, research-institutes, government bodies and non governmental organizations are working together to realize the action agendas and try to achieve these perspectives.