Plant sciences in the UK – under nurtured?

A new report by the UK Plant Sciences Federation (UKPSF) reveals that a shortage of investment in plant science research and skills is preventing the UK from effectively tackling important global challenges. The report, UK Plant Science: Current status and future challenges, presents the results of the first ever analysis across the UK’s plant science sector. It provides a comprehensive account of the current state of plant science research and training, and the actions needed to help grow our economy and address inevitable global concerns. Professor Jim Beynon, UKPSF Chair, said: “Plant science will be a vital ingredient in solving some of our most serious problems, such as guaranteeing food security, coping with the threats from climate change, protecting biodiversity, and improving human health. Without critical investment in plant science research and training of specialists, we simply won’t have the capacity to tackle these issues successfully.” During the year-long study, the UKPSF received evidence from over 300 members of the UK plant science community. Despite the diverse roles and interests of contributors, the report carries several clear and unified messages. The world economy, our environment and natural resources are under pressure from a rapidly expanding population which is predicted to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. We will need to double global food production by this point to ensure that no one goes hungry. In conjunction with increased demand for food, crop yields in the UK and worldwide are compromised by extreme and erratic weather conditions, pests, diseases and the effects of climate change. Plant scientists are ideally placed to help improve food production systems, develop biodiversity management solutions and support economic growth at a domestic and global level. The report reveals that the UK currently stands as one of the world’s most efficient plant science research communities. Although plant science receives less than 4% of public research funding, the UK ranks second in the world for plant science publication impact. The UKPSF states there is huge potential for UK plant scientists to play a prominent role in supporting key industries such as agriculture, pharmaceuticals, forestry and industrial biotechnology. However, currently this potential is not being met fully.

UK plant science delivers enormous international prestige and influence despite being under-resourced

“UK plant science delivers enormous international prestige and influence despite being under-resourced,” said Professor Beynon. “The global impact of UK plant science research is something of which we can be extremely proud, but continuation of our strong position is far from assured.” The UKPSF proposes that for UK plant sciences to move forward there must be recognition of the negative impact that past policy changes and unstable funding structures have had on the sector. Extreme swings in policy and research funding priorities have led to a decline in applied research, as well as related skills shortages in plant health, crop and soil sciences and field studies. The report highlights the importance of ensuring that education and training is available to meet employers’ needs. 96% of the organisations surveyed identified a shortage of specialist plant science skills which could hinder scientific progress and innovation. Currently, due to lack of funding and facilities, many universities are not in a position to offer courses in crop science. Combined with this, a large number of specialist plant scientists are reaching retirement age and therefore there is danger the plant sciences will be left with irreversible skill losses within 10 to 15 years. Dr Mimi Tanimoto, executive officer of the UKPSF, said: “Without succession planning, there is a real danger that the UK will have a skills shortage in some crucial areas.” The UKPSF recommends that a combination of more and better-targeted apprenticeships, industrial studentships, teaching fellowships, further education and postgraduate courses can help to address skills shortages. Closely linked to this, the report describes the need to inspire a new generation of plant scientists. There is currently poor representation of plant sciences in school biology curricula; to overcome this, organisations responsible for developing biology qualifications can collaborate with plant scientists to produce engaging and high quality plant science course content and teaching materials. Inspiring students from a young age is the first step. The UKPSF would like to see this built upon through more effective incorporation of plant science into degree courses and the provision of relevant careers resources and advice which demonstrate the range of exciting prospects open to plant scientists. Contributors to the report identified knowledge transfer as one of the biggest weaknesses in the UK’s research and funding strategy. Insufficient support for plant scientists to engage in public-private partnerships is resulting in poor translation of research findings into useful applications. The report calls for simple and easily-accessible networks and schemes to encourage communication and collaboration between plant scientists and industry representatives. In 2013, the Government committed to a renewed focus on agricultural innovation with its £160 million UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies. The report welcomes this much-needed contribution to the plant sciences but also warns that a long term, stable plan is needed to balance the focus between basic, applied and translational research. The UKPSF recommends that a doubling of investment in plant science will be essential to support each of these areas adequately to allow the UK to deliver on its sustainability objectives. The report also describes concerns from plant scientists that current and future EU regulatory frameworks are creating barriers to innovation in a number of significant areas. Legislation governing GM crop cultivation, pesticide use and the exchange of plant genetic resources are noted in particular. For example, approvals for GM crop cultivation are slow, costly and highly politicised. Despite the UK pioneering a number of crop transformation technologies in the past 30 years, the UK has not been able to reap the benefits of its successes, missing out on the creation of jobs and potential economic growth. The Federation backs efforts by UK Government to remove unnecessary barriers to adopting new technologies through the development of evidence- and risk-based regulatory frameworks. They feel this will be crucial to allowing plant breeders, industry and farmers to utilise all of the advancing knowledge, tools and technologies available. The UKPSF – a special interest group of the Society of Biology – says that re-establishing a stable and vibrant plant science community within the UK will require co-ordinated efforts from Government, funders, industry, scientists and educators. It aims to address the short fallings identified in the report through formation of working groups to tackle individual priorities. The Federation would like to hear from anybody interested in taking part in these working groups. For information on how to get involved, please contact: mimitanimoto@societyofbiology.org. Further reading UK Plant Science: Current status and future challenges is available to download from: www.plantsci.org.uk Author Jenni Lacey MSB is Membership Marketing Officer at the Society of Biology