Certis considers the future of protected cropping

Can you imagine fresh produce growing on the roof of your local supermarket, in a warehouse under artificial lighting or on floating greenhouses? These things are beginning to happen already but by 2030 how will technology change and expand production further? How available is investment capital likely to be? How will trade patterns develop?

In a world full of concern about the provision of sufficient food for a burgeoning population, demand for fresh nutritious produce grown locally and available all year round will continue. How will growers innovate to meet that demand? Pressures on the availability of water, energy, labour and land and their related costs as well as changing weather patterns will impact their actions. How and where will they respond? What will protected cropping look like in the future? Where will our fresh produce come from?

Certis Europe, working with Forum for the Future, has been addressing these issues through a structured ‘futures’ process encompassing background research across the industry to identify and help understand the influencing factors which will drive the future of protected cropping, workshop discussions and analysis and the creation of possible scenarios of how the industry may develop in the light of various external factors.

The findings of this work have been published in ‘Protected cropping in 2030’, which presents not only the factors deemed likely to have the greatest impact on the industry but several possible scenarios for the future of a sustainable protected cropping industry. The information can also be viewed at www.certiseurope.com/protectedcropping2030.

“The whole process has been highly stimulating in terms of encouraging ‘blue-sky thinking’ within the company,” explained Kevin Price, Certis Europe Corporate Marketing Manager, “and the outcomes will certainly contribute to our long term planning. Many of the potential challenges the industry faces are too big for one organisation to tackle alone,” he continued, “and we hope the opportunity to share our findings with other stakeholders will allow for a broader review of the risks and opportunities in the different scenarios. We look forward to receiving comment and feedback on the project to help the industry build a more sustainable future,” he concluded.

Request copies of the brochure from: Mrs Inez Cornell - by email to cornell@certiseurope.com

For more information:
Certis Europe
Kevin Price
Market Development Manager,
T: +32 2 331 3894
price@certiseurope.co.uk
www.certiseurope.com

Sequitur
Gill Norriss
Corporate PR
T: +44 1794 388 831
gillnorriss@sequitur.eu.com