The futures review of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 2018 is part of the joint foresight work of the Finnish Government. As the basis for their foresight reports, the ministries joined their forces to establish a set of change factors to describe the relevant changes and uncertainties in the operating environment of the future. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has selected six change factors that are expected to cause the most significant changes in the operating environment of the Finnish bioeconomy and circular economy based on food and natural resources over the next decade. These change factors are: i) climate change, ii) fast development of technologies, iii) competition for depleting natural resources, iv) transition of the global economy, v) change in values and attitudes and vi) population structure and urbanisation.

The ministry engages in policy preparation and development relating to the future on an ongoing basis as part of its regular tasks. The foresight report 2018 does not deal with matters that are already being addressed and promoted in any case, but the focus is on objectives and proposals for measures that are relevant to respond to challenges and opportunities in the near future. These have been compiled under four themes, with more detailed targets and measures presented under each of them. The themes are 1) Competitive advantage from clean food and water, 2) Responsible and competitive natural resource economy, 3) Increased multiple dwelling and successful regions and 4) Spatial data boosts a digital society. The first part of the review presents measures of a more general nature that are important to respond to future changes.