Already, eight hundred and forty two million people suffer from chronic hunger in the world and food demand is on the rise.

The challenge is to produce more food using less resources in an efficient, innovative way. Access to nutrients is key.

If fertilisers are used correctly, they ensure higher yields for farmers and secure food supplies for consumers with a minimum environmental impact. Precision farming is part of green growth.

A recent European Commission study showed that fertiliser use may have to double to provide enough food in 2050.

Yet the EU has phased out the use of many crop protection products, without scientific evidence to back it up, and when often no alternative solution exists, causing production drops of up to 30 per cent.

Speaking at the Conference “Feeding the world in 2050: Smart Use of Fertilisers” organised by Fertilisers Europe, Copa-Cogeca Commodities and Trade Director Arnaud Petit stressed “European farmers have had to cut fertiliser use by 36 per cent. This is not acceptable.

"Farmers will no longer be able to produce the food European consumers want. We see promising signs in the energy sector where European farmers use renewable energy like biogas on their farms as electricity. We need to launch a similar approach for nutrients. If we want to respond to growing world food demand, we need to produce more and better, with more innovation at farm level."