EU needs to balance food production and sustainability to protect the environment.

The European Union (EU) needs to achieve a better balance between food production and other sustainability goals in rural areas to protect the environment and enhance biodiversity, said the EU Budget Commissioner, Günther Oettinger.

Speaking at the 2017 EU Agricultural Outlook Conference this week, Oettinger said farmers must embrace digital and precision farming. “If farmers do not adjust to this they will not survive the next decade,” he added.

These warnings were echoed by Ms. Marion Guillou, Chairwoman of Agreenium, the French institute in Agro- Sciences. “We have to adapt European agriculture to growing uncertainty,” she said, referring also to the challenge of climate change and commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Agriculture in Europe must shift towards a more sustainable model, recognizing, for example, health innovations, environmental services & the value of carbon sequestration in the soil.

Also, at the Outlook Conference, the European Commission published three white papers examining the biggest environmental, economic, and social challenges faced by Europe’s agricultural sector.