“Exploitation of natural bioactive compounds in agricultural crops – an important component of the green transition” by Inge Fomsgaard

Agricultural crops produce proteins, carbohydrates, and fats; - essential nutrients for the plants themselves and the people who eat them. However, the crops also produce a great extra benefit: Biologically active compounds that are exploitable. The biologically active compounds can be excreted from the crop and have an inhibitory effect on the growth of neighboring weeds or on harmful insects. Exploiting this knowledge could lead to reduced use of synthetic pesticides. The compounds can also have a positive effect on the mechanisms that regulate the plant's nutrient uptake. And we have very recently shown that cereals and legumes that grow close together absorb the bioactive substances of the neighboring plant via the soil to an astonishingly large degree. Perhaps a crop containing its own and the neighboring plant's bioactive substances will have a more vital ability to resist harmful insects? We should be able to take advantage of this in a future adaptation of agriculture, where intercropping will probably be used more and more. To make optimal use of these bioactive compounds, we must strengthen research into the mechanisms behind the interaction between crops and between the crop and its surrounding environment