The European Green Deal (COM2019 640 final), an essential part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda implementation, sets ambitious goals for the economy and especially for the agricultural sector, aiming to preserve the stock of natural capital and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. To achieve these objectives, the document emphasizes the importance of digital technologies, highlighting the key-role of the agri-food sector and the importance of the Farm to Fork strategy as operational tool to implement the Green Deal in the agricultural sector.
Coherently with this perspective, in the recently published report of the 5th SCAR (European Commission’s Standing Committee on Agricultural Research) (“Resilience and transformation”), three main key goals are identified:
- Ensuring nutritious, healthy and sustainable food for all
- Setting up full circularity of food and agricultural systems
- Restoring diversity in our food, farm and social systems
How to shape future agricultural and rural systems to obtain a safe operating space is becoming a key-question for researchers and policy makers. Knowledge and innovation are identified as priority tools for achieving these goals.