Climate and Water Smart Agriculture: From the Netherlands and Egypt to the World

Climate change poses long-term challenges to a global food system that is currently disrupted by short term shocks emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The food system of the Netherlands has over the last century successfully increased productivity to ensure food security and competitiveness in horticulture, dairy and intensive livestock keeping. Now it faces societal and political pressure to adjust to the climate crisis and decline on biodiversity caused by nitrogen emissions and agricultural land use. Meanwhile farmers must adapt to droughts, floods, and salt intrusion exacerbated by climate change. The Netherlands is learning lessons on food system transition from a monoculture-based farming system based on intensive and specialized production to one based on diversity, benefitting people, planet and profit. It has the responsibility to share those lessons and generate more knowledge and experience to increase the relevance of its food system knowledge and innovation expertise.

Egypt at the same time faces the challenge to feed a growing population with increasing claims on scarce water. Once the breadbasket of the ancient world, it is now the largest importer of wheat. Intensive monocultures of field crops, vegetables and fruit trees, have seen it increase its export potential with ever more intensive livestock production responding to rising local demand for animal proteins. While Egypt benefitted from the green revolution, its farming is no longer future-proof. Farmers struggle with increasing soil borne diseases, depletion of aquifers, and pollution of surface water with pesticides and fertilizer. Meanwhile increased water efficiency and fresh water extraction is leading to salinity in soils, ground water and salt intrusion from the sea. For smallholders, land fragmentation hinders their economies of scale to invest in climate smart technologies and practices. Egypt and the Netherlands have the opportunity to generate knowledge and expertise through climate action research in agriculture. With this event, we want to share our lessons learned with the world.