Talajökológiai egyensúly érdekében csökkenő élelmiszer-termelés: dilemma vagy szükségszerűség? • Decreasing Food Production in Quest to Restore Soil Ecological Balance: Dilemma or Necessity?

According to an EASAC study in April 2022, agriculture is the most serious threat to the stability of ecosystems and the climate and is accelerating environmental degradation. The EASAC study authors think that the elimination of unilaterally formulated agricultural damage can be solved by introducing by the Regenerative Agriculture concept. We interpret and evaluate the find-ings and recommendations of the study on soil, land and water use from the perspective of soil science and groundwater management. The proposal to introduce 25% of the EU’s agricultural area to organic farming, and 10% high-diversity landscape features, a ers and a 50% reduction in plant protection products will not be objectionable in principle but will have a significant effect on Europe’s agricultural production with a remarkable reduction, at a time when the world’s population is facing food shortages. Increasing soil carbon sequestra-tion is in principle perfectly acceptable, but it should also be borne in mind that higher organic matter content in the soil results in higher CO 2 emissions. According to the study, the amount of nitrogen and phosphor fertilizers released by European agriculture is the same as the amount of nutrients present in surface and groundwaters. This is impossible in principle, as the propo-nents assume that all European soils are filled with both nutrients and the ‘extra fertilizer’ enter the surface and groundwater entirely from the soil as the nutrient requirements of cultivated plants are fully covered by the soil’s natural or previous artificial nutrient supply. The more agri-culturally acceptable recommendations of the study, compiled by excellent authors in ecology, could have been more acceptable given the meaningful participation of agricultural experts and farmers.