Sustainability means producing sufficient quantities of safe and healthy food, while improving the livelihoods of food producers and preserving precious environmental resources for future generations of farmers and consumers  New global sustainability challenges require input from the plant science industry. Plant science products and technologies, used appropriately, improve product quality, increase yields and help achieve agricultural sustainability.

“Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract - sustainable development - and turn it into a daily reality for all the world’s people…”  - Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General. Sustainability has three main facets: economic, environmental and social. In the agricultural sphere, the plant science industry makes a significant contribution to improving all three aspects.

The plant science industry invents, develops, manufactures and delivers innovative products, technologies and services designed to improve the global production of food, feed and fibre and other useful products in a sustainable way. 

Improvements in agricultural technologies and practice mean that today’s population has more food per head available to it than 40 years ago, when there were only half the number of mouths to feed and about the same land area was farmed. 

In addition to increasing crop yields in many parts of the world, advances in agricultural technologies have also contributed to a safer food supply, and in some cases, improved environmental quality.   

Over the next 30 years, agriculture will have to sustain an additional 2 billion people from an increasingly fragile resource base.  Available arable land is decreasing, water is becoming scarcer and consumers are demanding a more varied diet, along with better nutrition, quality and safety of food products.   In addition, many are looking to agriculture as a new source of renewable energy and industrial raw materials.  

We must do all of this without harming the environment and the resource base for future generations of farmers and consumers. 

These increasing demands and pressures mean that agriculture has to become even more productive, efficient and environmentally sound.  This will require the continued application of new scientific knowledge, improved resource management and sustained public and private research investment in emerging technologies.

The plant science industry fully supports the international community’s recognition that major improvements in agricultural performance are fundamental to achieving the overall goals of sustainable development, as put forth in Agenda 21, signed by 100 heads of state and governments in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and reaffirmed during the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg. 

We are committed to being “part of the solution,” and will continue to provide innovative approaches that protect the environment, enhance the economic viability of farms and rural livelihoods, and improve the quality of life for farmers and their communities. 

To accomplish this, we work hand-in-hand with a range of stakeholders, including farmers, international organisations, NGOs and the public sector.  Some of the things we do for sustainability include:

• Undertake locally adaptive fieldwork and provide technical services and training to ensure the safe and effective use of our products around the world, and particularly in developing countries. 
• Work with a network of qualified personnel and partner organisations to test, analyze, and disseminate products and techniques that address different needs and priorities. 
• Share knowledge and experience to inform decisions on issues related to international and national policies, regulations and funding for sustainable agriculture and economic development.