More feed and food for More people with Less resources and less emissions are real challenges for sustainable food security and nutrition presently and in future. Plant breeding can be considered as the starting point for the whole human food chain. Therefore, high, stable and high digestible yields of phytogenic biomass with low external inputs of non-renewable resources, such as water, fuel, arable land, fertilizers etc., low emissions of gases with greenhouse potential during cultivation, high resistance against biotic and abiotic stressors including adaptation to potential climate change, and a low concentration of undesirable substances in the plants are real challenges for plant breeders in the future. Unlimited resources such as sunlight, nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the air as well as the genetic pool of microbes, plants and animals can be used to breed/develop the optimal plants/crops (see SCAR 2008; The Royal Society 2009). It is possible to realize all these objectives by traditional plant breeding, but genetic engineering may be faster and can contribute substantially to achieve these goals. Both “breeding technologies” should be considered to complement one to another and not as alternatives.
Another global aspect is the balance between Planet (global resources and emissions) – People (social aspects of population all over the world) and Profit (economic aspects, money-making) in the so-called 3P-concept (IUCN 2005; Boonen et al., 2012), This balance is an important prerequisite for a sustainable life and development on the earth. Some authors are afraid that the balance between the 3P would be more and more disturbed and an ethical dimension should be introduced as the fourth dimension (IUCN 2005; Casabona et al. 2010; Makkar and Ankers, 2014). Profit should not and can not be the single objective of production. We need to find a balance between a careful and sustainable use of limited resources (see above) on the one hand (Fedoroff et al., 2010; Giovannucci et al., 2012; Wals and Corcoran 2012) and low emissions with local and global consequences for later generations (Foley et al., 2011) on the other hand. Progresses in plant breeding to more efficient plants in using natural resources and plants with high and stable yields which contribute to stabilize human nutrition with food of plant and animal origin can be a starting to overcome imbalances in the 3P-concept.
That means plant breeders should consider this 3P-concept and should develop plants with low external inputs of non-renewable resources (e.g. water, fuel, arable land etc.) and plants should optimal use unlimited resources (e.g. sunlight, N2 and CO2 from the air etc.; see Flachowsky et al. 2013).
Public plant breeding is very important to realize such objectives. Seeds of such breeding should be available to all farmers including smallholders in developing countries (see Ruane et al. 2013).
If we are not able to consider such aspects as mentioned above in the HLPE-report, we will not be able to contribute to a sustainable solution of food security and nutrition.
Personally, I think that the authors of the HLPE-report on “Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition, including the role of livestock” should consider such fundamental aspects.
References (included in my comments above):
Boonen, R., Aerts, S. and De Tavernier, L. (2012) Which sustainability soits you? In: Climate change and sustainable development; ed. by T. Potthast and S. Meisch, Wageningen Acad. Publ. 43-48.
Casabona, C.M.R., Epifanio, L.E.S., Cirion, A.E. (2010) Global food security: Ethical and legal challenges. Wageningen Academic Publ., Wageningen, The Netherlands, 532 p.
Fedoroff, N.V., Battisti, D.S., Beachy, R.N., Cooper, P.J.M., Fischhoff, D.A., Hodges, P.C., Knauf, V.C., Lobell, D., Mazur, B.J., Molden, D., Reynolds, M.P., Ronald, P.C., Rosengrant, M.W., Sanches, P.A., Vonshak, A. and Zhu, J.K. (2010) Radically rethinking agriculture for the 21th century. Science 327, 833-834.
Flachowsky, G., Meyer, U., Gruen, M. (2013). Plant and animal breeding as starting points for sustainable agriculture. In “Sustainable Agriculture Reviews (ed. by E. Lichtfouse), 12: 201-224
Foley, J.A., Ramankutty, N., Brauman, K.A., Cassidy, E.S., Gerber, J.S., Johnston, M., Mouller, N.D., O`Conell, C., Ray, D.K., West, P.C., Balzer, C., Bennett, E.M., Carpenter, S.R., Hill, J., Monfreda, C., Polasky, S., Rockström, J., Sheehan, J., Siebert, S., Tilman, D., Zaks, D.P.M.. (2011) Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature 478: 337-342
Giovannucci, D., Scherr, S., Nierenberg, D., Hebebrand, C., Shapiro, J., Milder, J. and Wheeler, K. (2012) Food and Agriculture: the future of sustainability. A strategic input to the sustainable development in the 21st Century (SD21) project. New York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development.
IUNC (World Conservation Union; 2005) The IUNC Programme 2005-2008. Many voices, one earth. Bangkok, Thailand, 17-25 Nov. 2004. Available at: https://cmsdata.iunc.org/downloads/programme-english.pdf
Makkar, H.P.S. and Ankers, P. (2014a) Towards sustainable animal diets: A survey based srudy. Animal Feed Science and Technlogy 198: 309-322
SCAR (EU Commission – Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (2008) New challenges for agricultural research. Climate change, rural development, agricultural knowledge systems. The 2nd SCAR Foresight Exercise, Brussels, Dec. 2008, 112 p.
The Royal Society (2009) Reaping the benefits: Science and the sustainable intensification of global agriculture. RS policy document 11/09, issued Oct. 2009 RS 1608, ISBN: 978-0-85403-784-1
Ruane, J., Dargie, J.D., Mba, C., Boettcher, P., Makkar, H.P.S., Bartley, D.M., Sonnino, A. (2013) Biotechnologies at work for smallholders: Case studies from developing countries in crops, livestock and fish. Occasional papers on “Innovation in family farming”, FAO Rome, 198 p.
Wals, A.E.J., Corcoran, P.B. (2012) Learning for sustainability in times of accelerating change. Wageningen Academic Publ., Wageningen, The Netherlands, 550 p.
Gerhard Flachowsky