Knowledge ‘key to the future of agriculture’

THE future of European agriculture will depend on knowledge, a conference was told in Brussels.

European Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel pointed to GPS technology as an example of what can be achieved.

“In the air, a satellite detects which parts of a field of maize are becoming too yellow. It then guides a robot to apply fertiliser in just the right places. Our ancestors couldn’t have imagined this. Likewise, previous generations would have been impressed by what we can do with integrated farming systems – getting the best possible outputs but dramatically cutting down chemical inputs.”