Researcher Dr. Andrea Kaim from AgriScape adds: "Agricultural landscapes must become multifunctional, as this makes them robust - even in the face of climate change. Practical solutions can only be found if agriculture, science and politics work together constructively. Policymakers should support farmers in operating in an environmentally friendly and climate-adapted way, i.e. secure them a livelihood, but not at the expense of environmental protection."

Dr. Rolf Sommer from WWF sums up his many years of experience on this topic as follows: "Sustainable agriculture must be wholeheartedly committed to climate and nature conservation. It needs a transformative spirit and the will to reshape. True prices and qualitative incentives ensure appreciation and income-securing wages for farmers. Sustainable agriculture protects the climate and preserves soils and nature, thereby ensuring food security today and in the future."

Jana Gäbert from the Trebbin agricultural cooperative was able to contribute the "farmer's voice" to the discussion with many deep, valuable insights into her everyday life as a farmer: "In agriculture, we often find ourselves in the middle of a conflict between our fundamental desire to produce food in harmony with nature and to care for the welfare of our animals, and the bureaucratic hurdles and tedious controls that make this path more difficult for us. These challenges sometimes make it almost impossible to fully implement our responsibility as a farm for environmental protection and animal welfare. At the same time, we have a social responsibility for our employees, which places additional demands on us (training, long-term job security). Therefore, our urgent desire for more trust from the authorities and other bodies is essential to enable sustainable and responsible farming.

In my view, science should focus on researching and developing innovative technologies and practices to address the challenges of climate change in agriculture. This includes the development of climate-resilient crop varieties, research into farming methods that reduce the carbon footprint of agriculture and the analysis of risk management strategies for farms. In addition, science plays an important role in providing evidence-based recommendations and guidelines for policy making and the development of practical solutions for farmers."

Constantin Marquardt from Bayer Crop Science believes that ensuring sustainable food security remains the primary goal of global agriculture. He points out: "Both global and local agriculture is under enormous pressure due to the loss of land. We are losing valuable agricultural land for various reasons. Be it due to the consequences of climate change, such as increased erosion caused by water and wind during extreme weather events, longer periods of heat and drought, desertification, etc., we are losing land. Added to this are armed conflicts, urbanization, the expansion of traditional and energy infrastructure and much more. In short, more would have to be produced on less and less land in order to meet the growing global demand for protein. Of course, changing eating habits, especially in the so-called western world, can contribute to this. However, especially in low-yield locations, the refinement of plant proteins is often one of the few economic opportunities for agriculture. The concept of regenerative agriculture offers individual solutions for this worldwide (catch crops, minimum tillage, humus build-up, etc.). Increased research and development of innovative solutions in the areas of digitalization and plant research, as well as their actual implementation, also offer enormous potential.

The time for asking questions is actually over, because there is no lack of knowledge and insights, but there is a lack of implementation. In short, the transfer of knowledge into actual practice takes too long. This could be achieved by reducing bureaucracy, creating user-friendly central databases and creating a friendlier climate for innovation and investment. In my opinion, knowledge transfer is still the greatest challenge facing science. As just described, there is a great deal of knowledge available, but it rarely or incompletely reaches the agricultural sector. It should therefore develop and implement further low-threshold information services so that both the agricultural sector and decision-makers in politics and government/administration can make informed decisions quickly."

Junior Professor Dr. Bartosz Bartkowski from AgriScape, co-organizer of the event, concludes on the topic of future farming: