Sustainable Agriculture: A Priority for the Government and Business
Modern agriculture faces the enormous responsibility of not only feeding the planet’s growing population, but doing it in ways that help preserve the environment and reduce carbon emissions. On the one hand, economic incentives and consistent regulation are the driver for a sustainable agro-industrial complex. However, an equally important component is the value system, in which the imperative is to conserve biodiversity and restore soils for the benefit of future generations. How can we restore the balance of productivity and fertility and introduce nature-like technologies that entail a careful attitude to resources? The answers to these questions lie in bioeconomics. The use of foreign biotechnologies in Russia ranges from 50 to 100%, which limits opportunities for their widespread distribution in the new conditions. How can we create a value system to preserve biodiversity for the benefit of future generations? How can we find a balance between the economy and care for the environment with technologies for a sustainable agro-industrial complex? What does the future hold in terms of the accelerated development of industrial, agricultural, and other types of biotechnologies? What mechanisms are needed to create a ‘new’ bioeconomy? What is the government’s role in the development of sustainable agriculture.
Moderator
Eugenia Serova,
Director, Institute for Agricultural Research, National Research University Higher School of Economics
Panellists
Vladimir Avdeenko,
Head of the Directorate for the Development of Agro- and Biotechnologies, Innopraktika
Elena Baturova,
Director of the Center for of Development of Financial Technologies, Rosselkhozbank
Oleg Kobyakov,
Director, Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Anton Ulanov,
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Management Company "Trust-Poultry Assets"
Front row participant
Konstantin Ivanov,
Head of the Department for Relations with Government Authorities and International Activities, URALCHEM; Executive Secretary, FoodNet