Global Horticulture: Challenges and Opportunities

This is a challenging time for growers: worldwide competition is driving producers to enhance the level of quality of their products. New safety and process regulations have to be faced throughout the entire food chain. Reducing the environmental impact of the production chain, in any sector of life, should be a priority for all. Agriculture, by and large, is asked to reduce public funding in order to survive and compete while it has also been asked to reduce production costs. Processing industries virtually have suppliers throughout the world. New actors, in any part of the world, are eagerly emerging and offering themselves as key players. Technology has helped the circulation of fresh produce that once could never have been imagined. The innovation and standardization processes that have occurred over the past decades have led to the worldwide diffusion and distribution of a few main vegetables. Will all the horticultural sectors be able to ensure quality and safe food for all the consumers and provide good living standards for the actors?