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BASF supports sustainable agriculture with 4 goals
Right balance, better yield. That is the goal that the chemical group BASF has set itself in the coming years. In concrete terms, it has drawn up 4 sustainability goals for this. In this way, the group hopes to contribute to the European Green Deal. "The transformation into a sustainable agricultural sector cannot be carried out by one party, for that all parties in the chain have to work together," said Vincent Gros, director of the Agricultural Solutions department at BASF, on 19 November at the meeting 'Our way forward in sustainability. '.
"Farmers are of fundamental value to society. Without them we have no food," Gros kicks off BASF's digital meeting. In the coming years, the sector must become more sustainable and the CO2 footprint must be reduced. In short: these are complex times for farmers. The director of the Agricultural Solutions department acknowledges this. "Farmers want to leave their soil healthy for future generations, but have to meet more and more requirements. As BASF we want to help them in this transformation."
The group has therefore set 4 sustainability goals for the coming years: reducing the CO2 footprint and making farmers more resilient to climate change, finding sustainable solutions for current challenges, further integrating digital applications in the sector and reducing the number of agricultural incidents that have an impact. on health or the environment. The motto for the coming years is therefore: 'Right balance, better yield'. In short: there must be a good balance between sustainable solutions and the yields that can be achieved.
Technology plays a major role
Specifically, BASF has set itself the goal of helping farmers to reduce their carbon footprint by 2% per tonne of crop produced. An example with which it aims to do this is the introduction of 'Hybrid Wheat'. This product must fulfill the first pillar of the 30 objectives, because it must be more resilient to climate change. "The cultivation of our 'Hybrid Wheat' is still in the development phase, but the goal is to bring this product to the market in the major wheat producing countries by 4/2024. It is one of our ways to help farmers in the fight against climate change,” explains Livia Tedeschi, Senior Vice President of Agricultural Solutions Division in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Another goal is to expand the integration of digital applications to more than 2030 million hectares by 400. "We are focusing on the so-called 'Smart Spraying', which we have developed in collaboration with Bosch." The company aims to spray approximately 2030 million hectares with this system by 125. Finally, the company wants to focus on fewer incidents. This refers, for example, to the spillage of substances that poses a risk to the health of the farmer and the environment. "With a new system, which we hope to roll out next year, we hope to ensure that our resources are less likely to end up in nature," Tedeschi said.
Contribute to Green Deal
BASF has little choice in terms of sustainability, because the European Union's Green Deal sets quite a few requirements for crop protection. "It is certainly an ambitious plan, we do not deny that, but in general it fits well with our goals," Gros said. "However, we cannot do this transformation alone, all parties in the chain have to work together for this. We are certainly open to that." BASF still sees a number of open ends. For example, a lot of attention is paid to technological developments, but the group wonders how far the developers have come with that technology. "In addition, some technologies that should enable the transformation are not yet allowed in the European Union. We wonder how quickly something like this can be solved."
The fact that the renewed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a lot milder in the field of nature, the environment and climate and actually nullifies the 'green goals' in the Green Deal, as described by many parties, is no reason for BASF to deviate of the Green Deal. “The negotiations on the CAP are still ongoing and we are closely monitoring the outcome. However, at the moment we have chosen to support the farmer in achieving the many objectives that are imposed on them. That is what we want to do. with the above pillars", Gros concludes.
Kimberly Baker
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