Ian Roberts, Bühler’s chief technology officer, addressed the Annual Results event on the topic of “Innovations for a better world”
He said that issues such as 70 per cent of maize being used to feed livestock rather than people; and a one per cent global temperature increase has the potential to reduce crop yields by 3.7 per cent, need to be addressed.
“By 2050, we need to produce more food with less land,” Mr Roberts said, explaining that 25 per cent of the world is land, 79 per cent of this is arable and 32 per cent of the arable land is being used for agriculture, and the challenge is to maintain food production for a growing world population using 35 per cent less agricultural land.
“Only 40 per cent of protein from fields lands on a plate,” he told the event.
Transitioning to more plant-based diets is part of the solution, Mr Roberts said, as this will use 50 per cent less energy and water and produce 50 per cent less waste.
He said that Bühler is setting “new, measurable targets” to meet by 2025 and that the company’s customers will hold them to account.
