Is science failing a starving world?

Unless extra funding is pumped into agricultural research - severe food shortages could be only 20 years away

Agricultural Science
Two decades of reduced public investment in agricultural research mean that we may not have the resources to ensure sufficient food-crop production across the globe in the near future.

The warning comes from the Royal Society which is conducting a major study - encompassing a two-day workshop on food-crop production at the National Institute for Plant Genome Research in Delhi - exploring how science can enhance global food-crop production.

Professor Ian Crute, director of Rothamsted Research and a member of the Royal Society's food-crop production working group said: “The United Nations has said that food production must increase 50% by 2030 if the demand resulting from population growth and greater prosperity in the developing world is to be met. Advances in agricultural science will be a vital component of our capacity to tackle global food shortages.

“Unless we address the decline in researchers working in this area now, we may not have enough scientists to train the next generation and provide the necessary innovations to produce the increased yields and improved nutritional quality which will be required to avert severe food shortages 20 years from now.”

According to scientists at the workshop - a decline in students pursuing agricultural sciences as well as a decrease in the number of university departments teaching these subjects has been a consequence of almost two decades of reducing public investment in agricultural research and poor career prospects.

The UK faces a potentially serious skills shortage. Areas of research affected include plant breeding, plant pathology, agronomy, crop physiology, agricultural entomology, weed science, post-harvest biology, soil science and agricultural engineering. “UK scientists are some of the best in the world and a skills shortage here will not only affect our ability to respond to the need for elevated food production at home but globally as well,” said Professor Crute.

Commenting on the impending skills shortage, Professor John Beddington, Government chief scientific advisor said: “We face a major challenge to feed sustainably a global population set to soar beyond 8 billion by 2030, whilst also managing the world's burgeoning demand for energy and water, radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions and coping with those climate changes that we cannot avert. Only with a major contribution from science and engineering can we hope to succeed. The Royal Society's findings on key skills gaps are therefore a cause for concern. It is vital that we attract fresh talent to our universities and to our industries, to develop and apply the solutions that will be critical in the decades to come.”