Agriculture at watershed and needs change says Scottish MEP

Agriculture has reached a watershed and needs to develop a new model for the 21st century, Scottish Liberal Democratic MEP George Lyon told the conference yesterday.

Food production would have to double by 2050 to meet the demands of a world population which was expected to increase from six to nine billion.

"We have doubled food production over the past 60 years but it will be much more difficult to repeat this achievement in the future because of what the government's chief scientist, Prof John Beddington, has described as the perfect storm - scarcity of land, water and cheap energy on which expansion in the past has been based," said Lyon.

"It will not be possible to turn on the food tap so easily in the future. We need to develop a more efficient and innovative farming industry. Farmers must be seen as part of the solution - not part of the problem."

The challenge, he said, would be exacerbated by climate change and the need to reduce carbon emissions.