The farmer in Covid times19

10 NOV

The farmer in Covid times19

By José Ramón Fernández , Director of Econatur Innovación

The impact of COVID-19 has highlighted the preparedness and efficiency of our farmers to supply the food chain in times of pandemic and has reminded us of the need to continue increasing the productivity and sustainability of our crops, which is undoubtedly the challenge we face as a society in the face of the demographic challenge that is leading us to an unparalleled overpopulation on a planet whose resources we are exhausting.

This situation of health and economic crisis, limited mobility and border closures has highlighted the importance of food sovereignty, which is committed to local consumption and local self-sufficiency, in which a country can feed its population in any situation. To achieve this, it is necessary to empower farmers, recognise their essential role in the value chain of the agri-food system, provide them with tools to increase the productivity of their crops and establish the basis for fair remuneration that values the quality of their products. Let us remember that at the time when we were surprised by the state of alarm, farmers, who responded stoically to the situation, were mobilising because of their serious economic problems.

Thirdly, the current situation has also revealed the importance of science, technology, training and innovation to meet the challenge of obtaining quality food in environmentally friendly and highly productive farms that are profitable for the farmer and affordable for the consumer.

Much has been written about innovation and new agricultural technologies (digitalisation, sensor technology, Big Data, IoT, mechanisation, more efficient inputs, food safety, etc.), but having access to cutting-edge technologies is no guarantee of increased productivity. For agricultural modernisation to generate added value and be sustainable, it needs to be wrapped up in a good management plan. However, even a sophisticated plan is no guarantee of success. Crop management is immersed in a changing and limiting environment with a large number of interconnected variables, many of them unpredictable (the nutritional and phytochemical composition of a fruit or vegetable depends on weather, light, temperature, inputs, soil fertility and microbiota, irrigation, maturity, etc.). This is where the role of the farmer and the technicians as the people who direct, execute and lead, based on their experience and knowledge, the management of the crop in an environment generally laden with large doses of uncertainty that must be accepted, managed and, why not, taken advantage of, takes on major importance.

The agriculture of the future has to be an eco-sustainable agriculture focused on the farmer, on producers who are committed to the incorporation of integral solutions that allow crops to be productive, food to be healthy and management to be respectful of the environment. In this sense, it is our vocation to provide farmers with the necessary tools to make their products profitable, differentiating them from the rest of the market by their healthy and organoleptic characteristics, and by the sustainability of the cultivation system. In short, to implement integral solutions and certify products with an added value that is reflected in their nutritional label, in the minimisation of pollutant waste and in sustainability indicators that favour their commercialisation.

At ECONATUR we have been leading and promoting this model of eco-sustainable agriculture based on innovation, the design of natural inputs and the development of biotechnological processes for 20 years. In this line, we share the values of the Miguel García Sánchez Foundation and we are proud to participate in the Farmers’ School and in the application of new technologies to agriculture, as well as to collaborate in research and innovation projects with the La Caña Group, with the aim of empowering farmers through training, the democratisation of new technologies, the digitalisation of the countryside and the recognition of agriculture as one of the major players not only in the provision of food, but also in the present and future of people’s health and environmental sustainability.