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The outlook for EU agriculture: Causes, constraints and challenges for productivity – Brussels 29.06.2011

By 2050, food production will need to be 70% higher than at present to satisfy world demand, whilst faced with a limited increase in arable land and other natural resource constraints.

Rising input costs and extreme income volatility will also be huge challenges standing in the way of farmers achieving food security.

The workshop will look into the contribution of ‘productivity’ in helping agriculture overcome these difficulties and meet increasing global demand in a sustainable way. In particular, the workshop will address the medium-term outlook for agricultural production in the EU as well as trends in overall productivity. We will also hear the views of farmers and input suppliers on selected areas for improving productivity. Finally, current opportunities and constraints to productivity growth in different agricultural sectors will be discussed between the various stakeholders.

Therefore, this event represents a unique opportunity for farmers and their cooperatives, agricultural input suppliers, credit institutions and academics to get together in order to exchange views on the market situation and outlook and to discuss productivity growth in EU agriculture. It will also be of interest to DG Agriculture and Rural Development, DG Enterprise, the European Parliament and other EU bodies.

The aim of the workshop is to:

  • improve the market intelligence of farmers and their cooperatives;
  • understand trends, sources and the potential of EU agricultural productivity;
  • coordinate the expectations and needs of farmers with those of policy makers and input suppliers;
  • provide a discussion forum on the state of the farming economy between different actors from agri-business and the European institutions.

Download the Roundtable discussions conclusions

Presentations available for view and download below: