The UN estimates that by year 2050 there will be more than nine billion people on the planet. This will not only increase the demand for food of animal origin but also necessitate a larger food production generally. This coincides with an increasing demand for biobased products that can replace the use of fossil fuels and thus reduce the climate impact.

Increasing the production may, however, pose quite a challenge. One of the challenges is that each year sizeable tracts of land disappear that were previously used for farming. This is partly due to climate change, which in some areas creates floods and in others droughts, but much of the farmed land disappears due to population growth because the land is used for building houses, roads and other structures.

Agricultural production is also challenged by climate change – both from changes in temperature and rainfall, but also from the invasion of new plant diseases and other harmful organisms.

In most countries it is no longer possible to convert forested and natural areas into farmland. When the area used for food production decreases, the production on the remaining area will need to be intensified. However, if the carbon footprint of agriculture increases as a result of inappropriate use of fertilisers and pesticides, this will aggravate the problems instead of solving them.

In other words, future food production faces large and conflicting challenges.

Research in robust agricultural production

A number of European countries collaborate on research that contributes to the development of climate-resilient production systems that ensure sufficient production of food and biomass.

The cooperation takes place under the European umbrella Organisation FACCE-JPI, where Denmark is one of the 21 European participants.

In a joint action with the European Commission, the partner countries have just published a call where researchers can apply for funds for coordinated European research projects. The indicative budget is 15 million Euros.

The new initiative is called FACCE SURPLUS (Sustainable and Resilient agriculture for food and non-food systems) and is intended to create opportunities for European research partnerships in sustainable and climate-resilient food production.

According to the call, funding may be sought for research projects in areas such as production and processing of biomass, the development of sustainable, biobased products and sustainable intensification of food production.

The call can be viewed on FACCE JPI's website: www.faccejpi.com. The deadline for submission of pre-proposals is 4 March 2015.

For further information please contact: Head of Department Niels Gøtke, Ministry of Higher Education and Science. Telephone: +45 72 31 83 96. E-mail: nigoe@fi.dk