global population will reach 9 billion by 2050. The world is already facing a huge food crisis and we have been discussing how biological control can contribute to the future transformation of our food production system.
The prices for fertilizers are growing extremely fast and there are plenty of reasons. Firstly there is a market demand, secondly economy’s crisis, which was caused by the pandemic period and finally the incredibly high price for fuels after the Russian aggression in Ukraine. Besides this terrible war has destroyed a huge amount of Ukrainian fields and caused the ecological catastrophe and now we have to think over how to improve the soil health during this difficult period and then after our victory. No doubt that soil plays a very important role in agriculture, so we have to take care of it!
How BTU-CENTER sees the principles of soil health. First of all to maximize biodiversity, soil covering and living roots, at the same time to minimize the disturbance. Soil organisms act as the primary driving agents of nutrient’s cycling. So, we should pay more attention to the physical and chemical elements of the soil quality. Speaking of recarbonizing global soils practices we want to stress, that it’s important to control such important things as soil organic covering, crops diversification, soil and water conservation, erosion control techniques, limited soil disturbance . As you see there are different instruments to improve carbon and the quality of the soil in general. Recent researches showed that 33% of the Earth soils are already degraded and over 90% could become degraded by 2050. After analyzing by FAO(47 studies and 195 comparisons) it was found out that bio fertilization resulted in an effective positive increase in soil carbon. By the way 27 from 47 studies showed great results with positive effects on SOC storage.
One more fact which is worth your attention. Since August 1, when the "grain agreement" came into effect, Ukraine has exported more than 11 million tons of agricultural products to 38 countries. However, this amount is not enough and it’s much less than before the war. The world market does not have an opportunity to replace Ukrainian agricultural products in the near future. At the same time, it is possible to increase the volume of our food for the world. Unfortunately prices for agricultural products for Ukrainian farmers are significantly lower than the world prices, because a huge amount of the income is taken by new logistics. During last nine months a very large number of our roads were destroyed, plenty of river ports were closed in the south of our country and the railway is not working at full capacity.
Speaking of other countries, we have to say that the situation isn’t very well too. In the last 18 months the energy price increased in 8 times and fertilizers costs increased in 3 times. Farmers all over the world need state programs and government support, because without any help their production will be halved by 2050. All these factors became the reasons for agricultural destabilization in the world in general. On the other hand climate changes are impacting farmers all over the world, so it causes new challenges for them. We shouldn’t forget about greenhouse gases, lack of ground water and less amount of native soils.
It goes without saying that our contemporary world demands healthy food and governments in many developed countries have taken it under control, so a lot of chemical products are already forbidden and the others are used in a less amount.
Nowadays most farmers started to look for new solutions and found them in bio stimulants, bio fertilizers and bio pesticides, which help to overcome these global challenges.
Perhaps you have already heard about European and International initiatives, which lead industry to use less fertilizers and pesticides. For example Green Deal is going to use -20% of fertilizers, -50% of pesticides by 2030, but at the same time +25 % of organic products.
Only five years ago biological products were sold for about 5 billion dollars in the world. And in 2022 for 11,2 billion dollars. The biggest piece of pie was given to biocontrol products- 6,1 billion dollars, bio stimulants were sold for 3,6 billion dollars and bio fertilizers- for 1,5 billion dollars.
No doubt there are a lot of tendencies that drive this industry, but the main aim is to cope with all these challenges and to feed the growing world.
BTU-Center tries to do its best to help farmers in Ukraine and in Europe to grow productively and sustainably, to improve soil health and to increase soil production, forcing the limited resources and capacity.
So, our purpose is to grow more crop production, but with less chemical input.
Year by year our specialists are constantly working on innovative solutions to lift farming to a new level of quality and as a result to get better yields.
Summing it up we would like to say that the more information, knowledge and experience we share - the more we collaborate, the best decisions we make and then, we set the goals and achieve them. We contribute to the better future for next generations, but we should remember, that every farmer and every customer is responsible for it, because only all together we are the strongest power!