by Claudia Sorlini, President, Scientific Committee for EXPO 2015 of Milan at IAI-OCP international seminar on "Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in the Euro-Mediterranean Area", Rome – February 2, 2015

1. Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in the
Euro-Mediterranean area
Palazzo Rondinini
Via del Corso, 51 ROME
February 2, 2015
Claudia Sorlini
President of the Scientific Committee for EXPO 2015
Municipality of Milan

2. Sustainability is based on two fundamental
pillars:
1. guarantee to all people, at all times, the
access to sufficient, safe, affordable and
nutritious food for a healthy diet
2. preserve natural resources for the future
generations.
The Near-future Challenge: Elaborating Strategies For A
Sustainable Food Supply Chain

3. Future Scenario
Food demand grows quicker than food offer
because of
• World population growth
• Increased demand for of animal proteins
(1 kg cow protein requires about
10 kg vegetable proteins).
• agriculture production does
not grow with the same trend of the past.
2050 Forecast
• 9 billion people
• Food Demand +70%
• Water Consumption +71%

4. The New Food Demand Faces Obstacles
- Soil availability
- Water consumption
- Energy
- Climate change
- Environmental impact of animal breeding

5. Increasing Competition For Soil Availability
• Need of urban expansion
in Europe during the last 20 years urbanized surfaces
have increased by 20% while population increased by
6%.
• Plants cultivation for bioenergy and no food production
• Food cultivation
Use of the biomass for bioenergy
production is increasing In Europe
• And In USA....

6. Cereals For Food Or For Bioenergy?
• A proper balance has to be found. We need to
produce more food and to develop renewable
energy sources.
• It is fundamental to lower carbon
footprint (gas greenhouse emissions)
and preserve the not renewable sources.
• To recover energy some
researchers suggest to use cellulosic
by-products or biomasses cultivated in
marginal areas
(Nature 2011).

7. 2. Water Scarcity
• Almost 800 million people drink not sanitized water
• 1,2 billion live in areas with water shortage.
• 69% of fresh water is consumed by the agriculture
The cultivation systems and the
industrial trasformation are causing a
very high water footprint
The production of 1 Kg of beef requires an
average 15.467 litres of water
1 kg corn : 1867 litres
1 drop of coffee : 1.100 drops of water

8. 3. Climate Change
• Agriculture is responsible of 14 to 17% of total
greenhouse gas emissions and adds to the climate
change resulting in an increasing
drought and desertification
• Some projections foresee a
25% food loss at low latitudes
(perhaps the production will
increase in temperate regions) .

9. Scientific Research And
The Need To Improve
Availability and Food
Quality Whilst Limiting
Environmental Impact

10. J.W. Low, et al. F2007The Journal of Nutrition 137(5): 1320
Biofortification
To increase vitamins and minerals content (by fertilizations,
breeding and GMO, or diets)
Plant
Breeding
Volume
132, Issue
5, pages 437–
445, October
2013
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Dept AEES
Univ of
Milan

11. Reduce Water Consumption In Agriculture (rice)
• Select plants resistant to drought, by advanced molecular technologies
(identification of genes that regulate the water evaporation -
transpiration )
• The experiences of Israel, Egypt, Italy
Traditional rice culture in underwater New variety cultivated in “dry”
M. Eisestein . 2013. Nature 501 S7–S

12. Identification and exploitation of leguminous
varieties resistant to the drought (Tunisia Egypt Italy)
A comparison performed among some peas and beans varieties commonly
cultivated in northern Africa, some of them showed
• the natural capacity to fix in the roots the atmospheric nitrogen
• the high adaptability to drought and climatic variability
• and also capacity to activate a metabolic mechanism for iron utilization
and accumulation in the plant.

13. Reduce Agrochemicals (and energy) in
Agriculture
Plants with a high nutrients absorption
efficiency to reduce use of fertilizers.
Plants able to produce active biomolecules
(ex. polyphenols)
against pests and prevention of microbial
infections
• .

14. • Biofertilizers : to provide nutrients
• Biostimulants: to modulate the hormonal
balance
• Biocontrol : to protect the plants from the
phytopatogens
Use Of Microorganisms To Promote Plant Growth
And Production In Dry Lands (Tunisa Egypt Italy)
Yang et al., 2008, Trends in Plant Science

15. Fight against new phyto patogenic agents
(Lebanon, Turky, Egypt, Greece, Ialy)
A team of researchers of Med universities identified the agent
that is causing desease of the fruit plants (in particular
almond, nectarine and peach) in near east Mediterraneum
(Candidatus Phytoplasma phoenicium) .
The procedure to detect the pathogenic strains of Phytoplasma
based on bio molecular technique for a quick and sure
diagnosis has been transferred to a Tunisian enterprise that
now can offer also this service to the farmers.

16. Looking For New Genes To Improve Food Nutritional
Values
The wild ancestral tetraploid
wheat, Triticum turgidum
ssp. Dicoccoides has the
allel Gpc-Bl, associated to
iron, zinc and proteins
bioaccumulation. This
variety could be a potential
gene donor to other plants
by breeding or genetic
engineering

17. Reduce Food Loss And Waste
Food Losses happen
in field, harvesting, transport, conservation, first transformation
Food Waste happen
during selection, industrial transformation, distribution and final
consumption
They represent 30% of the food
produced.
In developed countries the highest
percentage is lost at home and
eliminated as municipal waste.
In developing countries the highest
percentage is lost during cultivation,
harvesting, transport and processing.
In either case.

18. The heritage of northern Africa
Facing the problems arising from the climate change, the
countries of the southern Mediterranean basin have some
exceptional resources: they are owners of a heritage
composed by plants and microbial genes of resistance to the
drought and climate variability . These genes need to be
discovered, investigated and exploited .
The challenge for the next years is to adopt a policy for the
sustainable agriculture that encompasses funding for joint
researches of the Euro Med area and supporting the
technological transfer of innovative results to the enterprises

19. EXPO and Future Policy
• The EXPO event offers important opportunities to discuss
about these topics among 145 countries and the 2 important
institutions that joined officially the EXPO , European
Community and United Nations
• Moreover Expo company, devoted attention to the
Euro- Med area, as demonstrated by the realization of a
cluster devoted to this area.
• Moreover EXPO company launched an international
competition on the "Best practices" for sustainability that
allowed to collect about 800 best practice from around the
planet.

21. Feeding Knowledge
activities – focus on
the 5 priorities
Sustainable natural
resources management
Quantitative & qualitative
enhancement of crop
products
Socio-economic
dynamics and global
markets
Sustainable development
of small rural
communities in marginal
areas
Food consumption
patterns: diet,
environment, society,
economy and health
Thematic
priorities
5
Feeding knowledge

23. Scientific Committee For EXPO Of Milan City Council
Set up by the Mayor, it is formed by the deputy rectors of the seven Milanese
Universities: Università degli Studi di Milano,Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore,
Politecnico di Milan, Università degli Studi Milano Bicocca, Università
Commerciale Bocconi, Università di Lingue e Comunicazioni – IULM,Università
Vita e Salute – S.Raffaele
SC is cooperating with the Scientific Steering Committee for expo f the EU.
And is involved on the preparation of the
Chart of Milano promoted by the Italian
Minister of Agriculture in agreement with
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

24. EXPO Milano 2015
Feeding The Planet – Energy For Life
UN are preparing the new millennium goals to deliver at the
end of 2015, named “the goals for a sustainable
development” and will expect suggestions from the
debates of EXPO
European Commission is waiting to receive inputs from the
discussions before decides the priority n the
investmentelaunching the call of the second part of
“Horizon 2020”.
Therefore EXPO will be a good opportunity to increase the
scientific cooperation among the countries of the Euro
Med area

25. Thank You For Your
Attention

26. The Crops Of The Future
• Plants with high photosynthetic efficiency;
• Annual plants conversion into biennial or
perennial
• Plants able to fix atmospheric nitrogen

27. New Protein Sources
Insects
• Algae