How To Achieve Sustainable Farming And Improved Crop Yields Despite Limited Resources

How to achieve sustainable farming and improved crop yields despite limited resources

05-May-17

Over the past 60 years, agricultural output and productivity has significantly increased and plastic agricultural film for silage, mulch and greenhouse applications has made a substantial contribution to this development. The use of plastic films has been notable in the horticultural industry, as well as in preserving and improving quality of silage, contributing to continuously increasing milk yields. Plastic films have also enabled extension of the growing season through the use of protective mulch and greenhouse films. For players in the market the business is a challenging one with many conflicting trends. The United Nations set itself an ambitious target to eradicate poverty entirely by 2030 and become, for the first time in human history, a zero hunger generation. This implies that almost 800 million people living with chronic hunger today have to be lifted out of poverty in less than 15 years. Growing population, scarcity of resources such as water, agricultural land and soil, together with pollution and climate change, have put global food production under increasing pressure. Sustainability and efficient and smart farming are being brought to the top of the priority list of both the public and the private sector involved in agriculture.

The tenth edition of AMI's annual conference Agricultural Film 2017 will discuss the above issues and present research findings and possible solutions to the problems faced by today's protected agriculture. The programme will kick off with the global overview of the agricultural films market based on the study conducted by AMI Consulting. This will be followed by ExxonMobil Chemical investigating how high performance raw materials add value to the agricultural film users; and by Erema and Starlinger considering post-consumer plastic waste generated by the agricultural sector with a focus on the advancements that the recycling technology has made to tackle this burning issue. The level of contamination of mulch films creates a particular challenge for recycling and so the second session will host AITIIP Technological Centre, BASF, Novamont, Repsol and Tomas Bata University discussing developments in biotechnology enabling biodegradation of mulch film in soil as a possible alternative solution, while OWS will share findings on its research related to accumulation of biodegradable plastics in soil over time and what impact on soil quality it may have in the long term. The use of mulch film has proven to be highly beneficial in growing a wide variety of crops all over the world. Braskem will provide insights in how this technology has helped increase crop yields of coffee beans by 70% in Brazil, while Hydrox Technologies will introduce a novel solar reactive shrinking mulch film which improves on-farm efficiencies in Australia.

The industry has seen major technological advancements in film formulations such as adding extreme oxygen barrier properties to silage films which prolong conservation and storage times of animal fodder, while reducing the fodder spoilage caused by mould; and to fumigation films which allow for the reduction of the amount of gaseous pesticides thanks to the improved gas retention properties. The benefits of EVOH barrier films will be presented by Kuraray-Eval, followed by Arkema which will introduce new photocatalytic totally impermeable film (P-TIF) for fumigation in open-field and greenhouse applications. Appropriate UV-stabilisation of greenhouse film is necessary to assure adequate durability and film performance. Plásticos Compuestos of Spain and Polynnova Group of Mexico will present innovative solutions for UV stabilisation using nanosized inorganic additives and TiO₂, Kafrit, on the other hand, will investigate how heat build-up reduces efficiency and performance of greenhouse films. The conference will be wrapped up by two university bodies, Wageningen University and University of Basilicata, discussing the effect of greenhouse film properties on crop yields and its quality from the perspective of heat retention, light distribution and micro-climates which greenhouse films create.