The Green Transition in Agriculture: Challenges & Opportunities
AI co-pilot supporting consultants in sustainable crop production
Supported by EIT Food Seedbed Incubator
Share your experience - shape the future of crop advisory
For a healthier environment and economy, we need to accelerate sustainable crop production. Whether you're a consultant or leader in the advisory sector, your insights are crucial for developing tools that help us in our joint mission: scaling sustainable, regenerative and organic crops production. We all need it.
Take our 5-minute survey to:
- • Help develop a tool to scale the influence of your work: help us understand your challenges and needs
- • Get early access to the platform and help shape it
Why now?
Plenty of reasons. These are just a few:
- • Reduced emissions: EU Agricultural emissions need to be halved by 2050 to reach net zero, yet projections show only a 3.2% reduction by 2030 and 7.4% by 2050 from 2022 levels, even with planned measures (Øko-Institut, 2024). Key sustainable farming practices could reduce annual EU agricultural emissions by 31.2 million tonnes CO2e through CAP Strategic Plans implementation - 8.4% of 2022 emissions (EU CAP Analysis, 2024)
- • Increased climate resilience: 78% of EU farms experienced consequences of climate change the last 3-5 years (EIB Survey, 2023)
- • Reduced negative externalities: Soil degradation due to agriculture causes losses equivalent to 8.4-18% of EU CAP subsidies (EEA, 2024). If the U.S. agricultural soils were healthy, the added CO2 storage would nearly enough to zero out current emissions from U.S. croplands (NRDC, 2022)
- • Increase biodiversity and reduce economic losses: 80% of EU crops depend on animal pollination. The global value of animal pollination to crop production is estimated at €158–412 billion per year (IEEP, 2024)
Economic potential
The economic case for sustainable farming is strong:
- • During extreme weather events like droughts, regenerative organic systems showed 31% higher yields compared to conventional systems (Rodale Institute, 2024)
- • Organic products command 20-30% premium prices over conventional products. Global organic market growing at 11.7% annually (2023-2030 projection) (Rodale Institute, 2024)
- • Sustainable farming can be equally or more profitable than conventional farming in the long term, increasing resilience to climate change and market instability (BCG, 2024)
The challenge
We are bold, but not naive. Understanding the current challenges is crucial for success:
- • Farmers often lack the necessary expertise and support to implement sustainable agricultural practices effectively (EU CAP Analysis, 2024)
- • Systemic barriers: lack of clear information about existing programs, complex certification processes and subsidy applications create barriers for farmers, further delaying the transition. Some eco-schemes uptakes as low as 13-15% of planned area (Concito, 2024)
- • The transition can require significant initial investment in specialized equipment, increased labor, and organic inputs (BCG, 2024)
- • Farmers also face potential yield reductions during the first 3-5 years (5-34% for organic farming in developed nations) (Rodale Institute, 2024)
The solution
To realize this potential, consultants need effective tools to transform the growing body of knowledge into practical and profitable recommendations. Enter our co-pilot.
Transform knowledge into action
- • Get an overview of the most relevant research, industry reports, and implementation projects
- • Find recommendations based on documented results under local conditions
- • Streamline financing applications with solid documentation
Work more efficiently. Focus on what matters
- • Find relevant solutions faster
- • Generate insightful reports that combine environmental and economic effects
- • Create new business opportunities through strengthened sustainability consulting
AI powered
AI enables us to identify and curate the most relevant scientific and empirical knowledge for the specific use case. We focus on:
- • Making research results more accessible. We continuously search for the newest research and industry reports, as well as other relevant documented implementations
- • Adapting solutions to local growing conditions and the farmer's needs
- • Supporting advisor expertise with data-driven insights
References
(BCG, 2024) Boston Consulting Group — The Potential of Regenerative Agriculture in Denmark
(EEA, 2024) European Environment Agency — The state of soils in Europe
(Rodale Institute, 2024) Rodale Institute — The Future of Regenerative Organic Agriculture
(Concito, 2024) Concito — Impact and Opportunities of the 2023-27 CAP Reform in Denmark