Establishment of a Research Focus on Resilient Sustainable Climate Neutral Agricultural Production—Resilient Farming Initiative

Abstract

Efficient and sustainable agricultural production is a pivotal factor in meeting the nutritional needs of an expanding global population. However, it is imperative to optimize national, regional and local effectiveness to support government initiatives towards climate neutrality and resilience, while simultaneously ensuring economic viability for farmers. A significant reduction in the cost of goods must be accompanied by a decrease in their global warming potential contribution to maintain competitiveness in the world market. As such, it is necessary to adopt practices that enhance productivity while minimizing environmental impacts. This paper discusses potential solutions for the sustainable enlargement of botanical product portfolios towards essential oil products and natural extracts for value-added products, such as natural pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agrochemicals and materials by direct waste valorization. Contributions from the fields of automation and digitalization provide the basic technology for the realization of the approaches presented. Agricultural photovoltaics can contribute to the goal of the reduction of the cost of goods and global warming potential, such as the already established utilization of biogas. The potential of the research initiative described is demonstrated by basic data on key characteristic numbers and costs from the literature. The economic potential for climate neutrality and the reduction of global warming potential contribution is seen in magnitudes of factors 5–10. A research initiative is recommended and exemplified for the industrialization of such integrated processing.