More than 90 experts were invited to discuss a long-term strategy for European agricultural research at the workshop held this summer on the initiative of the European Commission.

Niels Halberg, director of ICROFS, gave a presentation at the workshop in which he introduced the notion of sustainable intensification understood as "more clever use of inputs" using more knowledge per ha rather than higher use of inputs and as a way to produce which "draws on nature's contribution to crop growth"

He also advocated for the adoption of a systems approach in research, looking at how to use ecosystem services better in crops and in livestock and in their interaction. Furthermore, he stressed the necessity to link agricultural research to the consumer and food systems in order to build a coherent research agenda.

The workshop identified several areas that need strengthening and adressed the challenge for research of getting results and knowledge transfered to end-users. The discussion also tackled issues concerning approaches and instruments. Systems and holistic approaches should be the rule, but more mechanistic and specific studies may be needed too on some aspects. A balance needs to be found between local participatory research and higher-scale approaches with more generalizable results.

The full report describing the main points from the workshop can be found here.