The agricultural sector needs to deliver more than just food to feed the green transition
Interview
In the future, the agricultural sector will have to produce not just food but also energy products and sustainable raw materials for bioplastics, textiles and building materials, for example, says Niels Skovgaard, chairperson of LandboUngdom, an organisation for young people living in the countryside. He calls for better quality and more climate-friendly food products. He was recently appointed as chairperson of the CIP Foundation’s Youth Advisory Board, which counts a broad range of young people
If you refer to crops, cows and pigs to describe Danish agriculture, you can rest assured that Niels Skovgaard will be quick to add that Danish agriculture is much more than that. Not least in the context of the green transition.
Agriculture, if anything, isn’t something you can fit into one category, especially not when it comes to the green transition. Agriculture must produce the food products of the future and at the same time provide energy and bio-based products for which there’ll be increasing demand, he says.
After completing vocational training to be a farmer, Niels Skovgaard worked in agriculture until embarking on political science studies at university in 2020. This is also when he was elected as the chairperson of LandboUngdom. In June, this year, he also became the chairperson of the newly founded Youth Advisory Board under the CIP Foundation.
The CIP Foundation’s solution-oriented, cross-sectoral approach appeals to the young farmer and student.
I like people who talk about climate solutions, but I really respect those who also act and, in fact, find solutions, says Niels Skovgaard.
Although not all the solutions have been realised, his argument that agriculture is key to solving the climate crisis demonstrates that he has a good general understanding of the situation as well as deep insight into the detail.
Some argue that the agricultural sector should be downsized. I usually say that it should be up-sized. Not necessarily with regard to land area, but agriculture should contribute in more key areas, so that agriculture plays an even greater role in the economy and in society, he says.
No more by-products
Bio-based products will be pivotal in a future sustainable society. We must produce more recyclable, biogenic products, and these must be biodegradable.
This is where agriculture can play a much greater role. Furthermore, it sets a new agenda for research and innovation in agriculture, according to Niels Skovgaard.
Take wheat, for example. Focus within innovation has been on higher yields. Maybe we need to spend the next ten years developing wheat straw varieties, which can be used as building material or to make bioplastics to replace fossil-based plastics, he says.
Grass also has potential, says Niels Skovgaard. You can make green protein from grass, and if you extract amino acids and the sap from grass, you get a product that resembles flax fibres. This can help replace climate-impacting textiles, argues the young farmer
Many more competences are required to pull this off, but we must move away from the idea of a main product and by-products and become much better at exploiting every resource. Luckily, there’s no shortage of ideas. I talk to other young people almost every week with ideas for how to make insulation from straw, for example, or other sustainable building materials, or something completely different. I believe there’s a huge potential for innovation in agriculture, says Niels Skovgaard
Better quality and better for the climate
He doesn’t question whether agriculture needs to go through a transition. It’s only a question of when and how to break down existing barriers. An obvious focus area for Danish agriculture is to raise quality and at the same time produce food products with low climate and environmental impacts. Niels Skovgaard is convinced that this will be feasible in the long run.
He disagrees with others in the industry who say agriculture should stick to producing what consumers want.
We should also provide what consumers will want tomorrow. But consumers also need to play ball; they must be willing to pay if we’re to improve biodiversity and the climate, says Niels Skovgaard.
However, he also acknowledges that we are facing an enormous challenge. Agriculture does not have billions to invest in product development; we will have to wait for the consumers.
I’d love to be able to promise that agriculture can lead the way, like in the automotive industry, where some manufacturers were far-sighted and ready to deliver on a large scale when demand for electric cars boomed. But I can’t make that promise. Because agriculture generally lacks investment to be able to develop products before there’s a demand for them. We have to follow a more even development towards higher-quality and less climate-impacting food products, as well as towards more vegan products, in step with growing consumer demand, he says.
Typical Danish ownership structure is a strength, but also a challenge
In many ways, the traditional Danish ownership structure, with freeholds and strong cooperative societies, is both a strength and a challenge.
The ownership structure has meant the path from research and innovation to farm field has been short and the industry has become more efficient for this reason. Niels Skovgaard admits that it may be possible to find a model for external financing to develop more sustainable food products. But this could create new dilemmas.
This could feed new challenges. The farmers own their cooperative societies and farms. Therefore, focus has been on their return on investment. If external investment is obtained instead, very different considerations will come into play. And it won’t be easy, he says.
On behalf of the industry, he warns everyone to be realistic. Danish agriculture operates in a global market, and even small price fluctuations can cause consumers to choose differently. The past six months, with increasing food prices, have already resulted in significantly lower sales of the more pricy, organic products, and this emphasises just how fast market sentiment can change.
The green transition as a remedy for depopulation
In the final analysis, however, Niels Skovgaard is in no doubt that Danish agriculture is heading towards a bright green future. Not pale green. But a bright green future, in which agriculture will be at the hub of the green transition.
At the same time, sustainability ambitions can also drive efforts for more social sustainability in regions under pressure socially, culturally and financially due to depopulation.
It worries me when vast solar farms in the countryside lead to depopulation of the countryside as people move away. I think there is great value when we live in different places, with well-functioning workplaces, cultural life and civil societies. We mustn’t forget this in our green transition, says Niels Skovgaard.
However, at best, the green transition can be a remedy for depopulation. Agriculture and
energy production will give sustenance to new green industries in the parts of Denmark that have been under pressure for several decades. Let us hope all this will lead to more educational opportunities in more of the provincial towns under pressure.
Today, Niels Skovgaard can celebrate the fact that LandboUngdom has its highest membership numbers for more than 18 years. He believes this is an indication that many young people in the countryside are actively choosing community.
Applications for agricultural colleges are also high, and the share of female applicants is
increasing significantly.
This reflects a general interest in the climate, nature and sustainability; topics that also have an important place on the curriculum. The responsibility of agricultural colleges cannot be underestimated. They educate the farmers who, in a few years from now, will be responsible for the production of climate-friendly food products and all the other products needed to propel the green transition, says Niels Skovgaard.
Thought-provoking networks
The young farmer and university student will be meeting ten other young people from various backgrounds in the CIP Foundation Youth Advisory Board. The board brings together young people from across start-ups, global corporations, the financial sector, trade unions and climate NGOs.
In other words, a mixed group of people from all parts of the political spectrum. However, this does not scare Niels Skovgaard.
People talk so much about professional networks, I prefer thought-provoking networks. Interacting with people of other opinions and values than me makes me wiser. My background is in agriculture, but there’s always something more for me to learn from talking with people who don’t know about agriculture and ask critical questions. I hope they learn something from talking with me, too, he says.
The purpose of the CIP Foundation Youth Advisory Board is not to come up with fully-fledged projects. So it is not a problem if the board cannot agree on specific issues.
I’m sure that through debating disagreeing we can actually take a number of
topics to a higher level. We come to the table with different views and different education al and professional expertise. I see this as a strength. What brings us together is knowing that we need a green revolution of society, says Niels Skovgaard
The eleven young board members arrive with competences and commitment, and they are all part of the generation who, in their life time, will have to live with the consequences of climate change and with the changing lifestyles and economy required to curb the climate crisis.
And perhaps they also have something else in common. They belong to a generation who feels no need to question the cause of climate change.
There’s hardly anyone in our generation who doesn’t acknowledge that climate change is man-made, and that climate change is the absolute most important task ahead, says Niels Skovgaard.