PHAs in agriculture

Agriculture is the most important production segment for our society. However, there are several challenges it has to tackle as soon as possible:

  • growing population needs more food,
  • bigger demand for animal production requires more feed,
  • growing segment of biofuels also needs lands and crops,
  • as well as green chemistry industry and biopolymers.

 

These problems cannot be solved by increasing area of agricultural land any more. 50 % of inhabitable land is already used for agriculture.1 Between 2010–2015 every year 5.5 million hectares of rain forests were plundered because of agriculture.2 Intensification of the agriculture brought high amounts of pesticides and fertilizers, which allow bigger yields, but further contaminate both food and the environment. The goal of sustainable development is protecting all remaining natural environments, while facing the abovementioned challenges.

Novel formulations of agrochemicals based on Hydal PHA

One piece of the sustainable development jigsaw puzzle are agrochemicals with slow or controlled release. These new formulations of agrochemicals deal both with chemical pollution in agriculture and the need for more efficient production. CRSs (controlled-release systems) enhance the effectivity of selected agrochemicals – less pesticides and fertilizers are needed for the same yields. Lower chemical pollution causes lesser harm to the environment, but also less stress to the crops – CRSs can provide higher yields.

References

  1. Ritchie, H. and M. Roser, 2013. Land Use.] Dostupné z: https://ourworldindata.org/land-use.
  2. Dudley, N. and S. Alexander. Agriculture and biodiversity: a review. Biodiversity. 2017, 18(2-3): 45-49. doi: 10.1080/14888386.2017.1351892.