Social, Economic, and Environmental contribution of the plant breeding sector
Plant breeders are a key sector of the economy. Plant breeding is the origin of the agriculture/food-stuff (agri-food) supply chains and of plant derived processing procedures. The competitiveness and quality of its activity transcends all links in the supply chains, thus benefiting society, the environment and the economy as a whole. ANOVE, the National Association of Plant Breeders, brings together 52 plant breeder companies and 3 public research centres in Spain. Their shared task is to develop the sector and defends its interests. However, it is a sector that is still relatively unknown, not only to the general public, but also to the institutions and the agents of the chain themselves. Many of these institutions and agents are not familiar with the origin of their products and are unaware of the investments made, and of the impact of the research carried out, by the sector.
Institut Cerdà has promoted a technical study to identify and quantify the impacts of research, development and innovation (R+D+I) activity related to the improvement of plants throughout the various links of the value chain. The overall aim of the study is to provide relevant and verified information on the social, economic and environmental value of the investment in plant breeding in the sector. The study seeks to quantify the extent of the impact of the plant breeder sector in the agri-food supply chain in Spain. The specific objectives are as follows:
- To evaluate the contribution of the breeder sector to the environment, to society, and to the economy and to local/regional development.
- To develop an analytical and participatory methodology which evaluates the impacts of the improvement of plants throughout the supply chain, and also generates consensus amongst the agents representing the various links in the chain.
- To characterise and measure the environmental, economic and social impacts of R+D+I carried out by the sector and its effects on the various links of the value chain, from production to consumption.
Due to the diversity of subsectors in which the sector intervenes, this document analyses, on the one hand, the socioeconomic impact of companies in the breeder sector in Spain and, on the other, a representative crop for each sub-sector: common wheat for cereals, corn for corn and oil-bearing (oleaginous), tomato for horticultural and blueberry for fruit
Donwnload:
Aportación social, económica y ambiental del sector obtentor en España
Resumen ejecutivo