15.03.2024
«If two people do the same thing...»
Dear Readers,
The world has a problem. CO2 emissions are too high. Climate change is altering not only living conditions on the planet, but also the conditions for agriculture. Drought, extreme rainfall and newly emerging pests are posing a challenge for the production of our food. Multiple swiss-food articles have focused on this.
The problem arises because our civilization relies on natural resources. We make use of what nature has to offer, which is predominantly fossil plant material. We burn oil, gas and coal – and this in large amounts. To put it another way: Because our energy production has relied on naturally occurring chemical compounds for the past 200 years, we now have a problem.
Synhelion, a startup founded by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), has now developed a technology that combines hydrogen and carbon monoxide in a thermochemical reactor to produce «solar fuels», which will initially be used to make air travel carbon-neutral. This year, Synhelion is putting its first industrial-scale production plant into operation. AMAG also has a stake in the company. Synthetic fuels (synfuels) are a promising approach to operating vehicles with combustion engines in a renewable and climate-friendly way. AMAG joined together with Empa to investigate whether synfuels can also be used in classic cars, thereby allowing them to continue chugging through the countryside with a perceived fuel consumption of one liter per kilometer. The tests were successful.
Intelligently produced synthetic fuels can be more ecological than naturally occurring fuels. As this example shows, our use of nature can potentially have catastrophic consequences; our use of the laboratory can provide the solution. To put it succinctly: Synthetic is good. Natural is bad.
Synthesis is the chemical process by which a compound is made from elements or a new substance is made from compounds. Contrary to popular idiom, this has nothing to do with poison at all. After all, naturally occurring substances can also be produced synthetically. The synthesis of substances in the laboratory is often conflated with a derogatory use of the term «chemistry» and «chemical synthesis» gets a particularly bad rap. Yet, even the human metabolism and much of what it does on a daily basis is chemistry, as this short video clearly shows. Admittedly, in the light of the current craze for natural living, this insight is difficult to digest. And if this insight gains ground, it will turn entire marketing departments upside down in their use of the tagline «all natural and free from chemicals».
In German, there is a proverb: «If two people do the same thing, it is by no means the same thing.» Synthetic fuels are clearly good. The diametrically opposite view is taken of synthetic pesticides, however.
In agriculture, anything that is (supposedly) synthetic-free is perceived as positive.
«Supposedly» because even many of the protection products for use in organic farming are produced using modern industrial processes. Copper, sulphur and pheromones are synthesised in large industrial plants, mostly from fossil substances (natural gas, petroleum products, etc.).
Totally abandoning the use of crop protection in agriculture would make as little sense as abandoning the use of synthetic drugs in medicine. Besides, abandoning synthetic crop protection would result in serious risks and concomitant effects. This becomes clear in the cold light of day. One example is pesticide-free wheat for bread production. The volume of wheat produced in this way is far lower than originally thought, especially in years with challenging weather conditions. After all, agriculture takes place outside and is too complex for simple «free from» claims.
The goal must be comprehensively sustainable agriculture. Agriculture must be shown to be sustainable in all three dimensions: ecological, economic and social. And that is only possible if every step is carefully evaluated. True sustainability is evidence-based. It’s not enough to simply flip a switch. Sustainability is not achievable just by doing away with synthetics.
At the same time, agriculture is not natural: Every type of agriculture is an intervention in nature with the goal of producing food. Agriculture means working with nature, but it also means working against nature. Nature will always try to reclaim land. Agriculture without modern tools would be just as ineffective as medicine without modern drugs – something that only very few of us would want to do without, as we are all glad of state-of-the-art (synthetic or biotechnological) drugs when we are seriously ill. The fact is that synthetics offers major benefits not just in energy production or medicine, but also in agriculture.
Natural substances are only as effective or ineffective, as harmful or as harmless as nature intended. Synthetics, on the other hand, offer the opportunity to change the «blueprint» of a molecule. Synthetic molecules can be restructured or changed, and thus constantly optimized. This helps in the production of synthetic substances with reduced residue. Synthetic molecules are an important part of precision farming, which can dramatically reduce the amount of pesticide applied and bring about massive improvements in sustainability. Manufacturers of spray technologies are thus cooperating with pesticide research companies who, in turn, are cooperating with leading IT providers to speed up and further improve molecule design.
Nevertheless, the laboratory does not deliver all-in-one solutions. Reduced residue often goes hand in hand with reduced efficacy. That is also a challenge with the new generations of biological crop protection, but these can be optimized, not least thanks to laboratory research. Laboratories can be used to achieve or «design» an increasingly resource-efficient agriculture and food industry.
It’s also good for the circular economy. What was once waste can now be better recycled or completely reassembled, and thereby kept in circulation. The circular economy is becoming the latest trend, even for food. An interesting example is the production of vanilla flavoring out of plastic waste. Other examples are koa flakes, which are upcycled from chunks of dried cocoa fruit, or chips and meat substitute made out of the spent grains from the Locher brewery in Appenzell.
Synthetics are behind many micronutrients. The German consumer organization «Verbraucherzentrale» in fact attests to the fundamentally better bioavailability of synthetic micronutrients than those that come directly from nature, since the former occur in isolated form. So we should amend the proverb quoted above: If two people do the same thing, then it is indeed the same thing. When it comes to the common goal of saving resources and reducing CO2, the overall production process and its effectiveness are decisive. And that means that synthetics have bright a future – naturally.
The swiss-food editorial team
