John M Polimeni (EDT), Raluca-Ioana Iorgulescu (EDT), Richard Shirey (EDT) Travelling Back to Sustainable Agriculture in a Bioeconomic World

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In an increasingly interconnected and bioeconomic world, agriculture is one of the vital and extremely complex links; on one hand, it provides food for the world while, on the other hand, it brings considerable environmental degradation. The negative by-products of agriculture have come to the forefront in recent years. As a result, agricultural production has undergone considerable scrutiny resulting in strong consumer movements for sustainable agriculture. However, many countries cannot worry about the environmental aspects when they do not produce enough food to be secure because farmers cannot compete with the artificially low prices of food due to the subsidies from developed countries. However, this trend is unlikely to continue as farm operations in developed countries must increase the amount of inputs, such as fertilizer, to maintain their levels of production. Furthermore, agricultural subsidies are likely to end due to the national debts of many countries. Therefore, it becomes more and more accepted that, for a sustainable agriculture, rural regions and developing countries will have to use local, traditional knowledge. This would support economic development and food security, especially since consumers are increasing demand for sustainably grown food.