Matthias Berninger , Executive Vice President of Bayer, was the protagonist of a very important panel (see EFA News) at the State of the Union, underway in Florence, once again underlining the importance of innovation in the agricultural field. As explained by the manager of the multinational to the microphones of EFA News, the challenges in Europe arise essentially from the growing excess of food demand compared to supply: a dynamic in which the war in Ukraine plays a fundamental but certainly not the only role.

In the current scenario, "industry plays a very important role - explained Berninger -. We are in the midst of an enormous transition in Europe and we are facing multiple crises. It is very important for companies to be at the center of this debate".

Among the fundamental problems identified by the Bayer executive, we find the fact that "globally we consume more wheat than we can produce". The challenge therefore is "how to produce more in less land".

"This approach to 'sustainable intensification' is missing from the original design of the Green Deal because it was conceived in a very different paradigm", Berninger noted, also noting that, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the availability of grain has drastically decreased, therefore "Europe must increase production in order to ensure global food security". Furthermore, "energy production for agriculture must not compete with food production", nor become a problem for "biodiversity".

"Through innovation we can really change agriculture into something more regenerative", making even lands "where there is nothing" productive. To achieve the goal of "fully mobilizing the potential of agriculture", Europe must "welcome innovation in the field of new agricultural and zootechnical nutrition technologies": something that, at the European legislative level, has not yet been done.