Policies for the Future of Farming and Food in Spain
Spain has a dynamic and competitive agro-food sector. However, higher productivity has not always reduced environmental pressures. The agricultural innovation and knowledge system could play a key role in addressing the environmental challenges and improving the sector’s resilience.
Policies for the Future of Farming and Food in Spain undertakes a thorough examination of the Spanish agro-food sector. It applies the OECD Productivity, Sustainability and Resilience (PSR) analytical framework along with the latest data from the OECD Agri-Environmental Indicators to benchmark the country’s sustainable productivity performance and to identify the main challenges facing the sector.
This report proposes a new policy approach, which puts innovation at the centre of a strategy to reconcile environmental performance and productivity growth. Its policy recommendations focus on actions to improve the agricultural knowledge and innovation system and make it more responsive to the most urgent environmental pressures. This requires strengthening the institutional and regulatory framework that supports agricultural innovation and creating incentives to tackle the impediments for a more sustainable and resilient agriculture.
Innovation for sustainability
Spain's scientific research capacity is widely respected, and directing this capacity at developing agricultural innovations and facilitating their adoption could further increase its value. The research and innovation performance of the different Autonomous Communities is heterogeneous. This chapter examines the Spanish agricultural knowledge and innovation system (AKIS), presenting its main actors, institutions and governance, the sources and flows of its funding, and the interactions between the national and regional levels. It outlines Spain’s policies to facilitate innovation in the agro-food sector, in areas such as promoting public and private investment in research and development, improving digitisation and connectivity, and protecting intellectual property rights, and compares indicators of innovation performance and adoption. The chapter also assesses the evolution of farm advisory services and the level of skills of Spanish agricultural workers. In the final section, examples of Spanish initiatives to promote innovation for environmental sustainability are presented.
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