Publication "Our food will be fine": Engelstalige versie van het ILVO-boek vanaf nu beschikbaar
Technology and climate offer us new food opportunities. This is the striking subtitle to the new book "Our food will be fine". This English translation of "Het komt goed met ons eten", the first ILVO book for a broad audience, is now available in bookshops, webshops and via publisher Lannoo.
This is the first book that Flanders Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO) offers for a broad audience. It sheds new light on three sectors undergoing change. It takes a helicopter view to remain objective and uses accessible language.
The book takes conscious consumers on a journey through crucial turning points driven by technological innovations, social trends, and challenges such as climate change.
Joris Relaes, administrator-general of ILVO and co-author of the book
In a number of areas, the trend in the agriculture, fisheries, and food sectors is currently more negative than positive. Every day, fertile agricultural land is disappearing, the effects of global warming are already making life difficult for farmers, and global biodiversity is declining. At the same time, research shows that solutions are in the pipeline. What can you expect from fermentation technology and soil-restoring agriculture? What do data and robotics have to offer in the food chain? What can measures relating to water and soil achieve? And what is in store with the new generation of plant breeding techniques and alternative protein sources?
In the book, ILVO gives a voice to 67 scientists and a dozen pioneering business leaders. This gives the reader a balanced picture of the challenges and practical innovations that are being developed. Joris Relaes: "The fact is that the climate is forcing us to adapt quickly. The fact is that artificial intelligence is turbocharging what is technically possible. The fact is that farmers, fishermen, and food companies continue to innovate, invest, and do business despite the challenges. And the fact is that we as consumers also have an impact through the choices we make when filling our plates."
About the authors
Joris Relaes is the head of ILVO, Flanders Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food Research. He is an agricultural economist and also chair of the Flemish Center for Agricultural History. Nele Jacobs is spokesperson and communications manager for ILVO. She previously worked as an agricultural journalist. Many ILVO scientists contributed to this book. Experts in food technology, agroecology, soil, water and land, fisheries, data technology, artificial intelligence, and so on. The Center for Agricultural History also wrote a piece on the changing food culture since 1950.
Nele Jacobs, co-author: "The great strength of this book is not a spectacular figure or revolutionary new insight, but the overall picture it gives of the three sectors—agriculture, fisheries, and food—in transition. It is written from the knowledge that exists in our organization but that you will not find in our research reports. We therefore hope that the book will appeal to every conscious consumer, policymaker, and opinion maker."
Our world is undergoing rapid change in many areas, and our food system (and digestion) will also have to evolve. For the better. This book gives us hope. There are alternatives, and our research centers are playing a pioneering role in this.
Bram Verbruggen, weatherman and meteorologist. He recently visited ILVO and was given an advance copy of the book to read.
Over ILVO
The Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO) is a public scientific institution of the Flemish government focused on sustainable agriculture, fisheries, and food. Its 750 employees conduct applied research and provide highly specialized services for actors in the broad agri-food sector. Through its continuous development of basic and applied knowledge, ILVO aims to improve primary products (plant and animal), develop economically and ecologically smarter production methods, ensure the most advanced monitoring of the quality and safety of end products (food and others), and develop policy instruments as a basis for sector development and agricultural rural policy. More info at www.ilvo.vlaanderen.be.
‘Het komt goed met ons eten’ is published by Academia Press.