4F Crops: Crops for food, feed, fiber and fuel

As different sectors - food, feed, fiber and fuels - compete for land, the yielding potential of the future non-food crops has to be as efficient as possible in order to minimize the competition for land. The main objective of 4F CROPS project is to survey and analyse all the parameters that play an important role in successful non-food cropping systems in the agriculture of EU27 alonside the existing food crop systems. The work started with the prediction of the future land use in short term (2020) and long term (2030), taking under consideration restrict factors for agriculture and the market demand for non-food crops. The cropping possibilities based on regional potential levels, ecology and climate are being determined. This group of non-food crops will be then subjected to a comparative cost analysis with conventional crops for the same time framework. Socio-economic impacts, like farmers' incole, riral development, public development, and public acceptance will be analyze. Then environmental implications will be assessed compared to their respective conventional products (fossil energy, conversional materials). Several environmental impacts will be assessed compared like soil quality and soil erosion, air quality and climate change, water issues, biodiversity and landscape by using LCA and EIA methods. The regulatory framework on the non-food crops will be considered including existing policies, co-existence and safety measures when the crops are used for both food and non-food crops. All the collected information will be used for the formation of scenarios for successful non-food cropping alongside food cropping systems answering whether a completive bioeconoly is a viable option for EU27.