A world in balance: a sustainably intensified agriculture to provide enough food for all and preserve natural resources
This symposium in August 2010 will present current initiatives to describe potential scenarios and concepts of tomorrow’s agriculture. It will bring together international experts, private-sector representatives, decision-makers, opinion leaders with GTZ staff from a broad range of countries to reflect on the shape of the agricultural sector by 2050.
Key issues under discussion will be, among others:
- Multifunctionality: What services should be provided by the agricultural sector to society, e.g. production of food, feed and fuel, environmental services, preserving cultural heritage and who is paying for it
- Income generation: Under which conditions can the agricultural sector be an engine of economic growth and provide jobs especially for poor people to future generations?
- Finding the right scale: Will the world’s food supply be produced on small-scale farms with low input use such as fertilizer, pesticides and agricultural machinery, or will the farmers of the future be highly qualified professionals applying large-scale production systems with an array of high-tech instruments and capital input?
- Rural vs. urban: What will be the dominant migration patterns? Will ever fewer people in rural areas produce the bulk of food staple crops while at the same time peri-urban agriculture is supplying the fresh produce market?
- The functional divide: Will arid areas of the globe be used to power solar plants and agricultural production will be concentrated in fertile regions of the planet?
- Technology: New themes such as vertical agriculture, in-vitro meat production, functional food or cloning are coming more and more into the debate. New ways of communication impact the way agricultural products are produced and marketed.
We look forward to sharing and discussing the future of agriculture with you. Your participation is most welcome and we hope to see you in Königstein, Germany, in August 2010.
25. – 26. August 2010
Communication and Training Center Königstein near Frankurt
Oliver Hanschke
Email: future-of-agriculture@gtz.de
Tel: +49 6196 793293
Talk-A: Talk Agriculture & Rural Development 
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