Agro and the Danish EU Presidency

For us at Agro, this is a highly interesting period that may help define our future research areas. Agriculture is at the center of attention, and the Danish government enters the presidency with three clear priorities: negotiations on agricultural subsidies, approval of new plant breeding techniques such as CRISPR/Cas for the modernization of crop breeding, and better regulations of animal transport.

For both researchers and industry, the anticipated modernizations of plant breeding techniques raise strong hopes for the development of plants that can defend themselves against diseases and pests. These new plant breeding techniques cannot be overlooked in this development. If they could, crops would already have been bred accordingly. With the recent political decision to rapidly phase out selected pesticides, the importance of new techniques has become even greater.

However, even though many studies show that these techniques have enormous potential and represent long-awaited progress in plant breeding, they are not a quick fix or a 1:1 substitute for pesticides. They are part of the solution, but they cannot stand alone. The future will require new crop varieties, but it will also require new cropping systems. And this is where we, together at Agro, can make a real difference and help shape the development.

As a Department, we contain all the competences needed for the development of future crop production. We now have a golden opportunity to combine these competences and help design how the agriculture of the future will be managed, if we seize the opportunity, and if the Danish EU Presidency is a success.