{"id":6972,"date":"2017-05-09T16:36:59","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T16:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sustainableagriculturewaitrose.org\/?p=6972"},"modified":"2017-05-09T16:36:59","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T16:36:59","slug":"developing-smart-food-for-a-new-generation-safe-and-secure-competitive-and-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/2017\/05\/09\/developing-smart-food-for-a-new-generation-safe-and-secure-competitive-and-sustainable\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing smart food for a new generation – safe and secure, competitive and sustainable"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u00a9

Professor Achim Dobermann<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFresh thinking plus global science yields lasting benefit.\u201d It\u2019s the modern mantra of the world\u2019s oldest research institute for agricultural science, which today launches an ambitious vision for the next five years at a time of unprecedented international uncertainty and diverse challenges, socially, economically and environmentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur purpose is to bring together global science and innovation to benefit farmers and communities worldwide, to secure food production and to protect the environment,\u201d says Achim Dobermann<\/a>, Director and Chief Executive of Rothamsted Research<\/a>, which celebrates its 175th anniversary next year.<\/p>\n

In a landmark speech at the institute\u2019s headquarters in southern England, Dobermann outlined a vision that combined ambitious research objectives to develop better food sustainably with a hard-nosed approach to the business of food production, globally and in the UK. He was supported by Rothamsted\u2019s senior scientists, who are among the world\u2019s leading experts in fields ranging from genetics, soil science, agronomy, metabolomics, ecology and pathology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are one of the few institutions left in the United Kingdom that still has both the breadth and depth to do integrated agricultural science,\u201d noted Dobermann. \u201cWe have always been at the forefront of agricultural science worldwide and we will remain there,\u201d he said, before introducing the institute\u2019s three big Science Portfolios: Superior Crops; Securing Productivity; and Future Agri-Food Systems.<\/p>\n

Under Superior Crops, research programmes aim to develop seeds with key genetic traits tailored to their cultivation, their environment and their potential nutritional and industrial value as products. For instance, some remarkable science has already crafted plants to mimic the nutrient-producing potential of algae, creating the opportunity for crops rich in long chain omega-3 fatty acids, or \u201cfish oils\u201d. And Rothamsted chemists are exploring willow to see what can be extracted before the crop is burned as biomass fuel; the focus is on precursors for new drugs and feedstocks for a range of industrial processes.<\/p>\n

Securing Productivity is about finding smarter ways to control biotic threats \u2013 pests, pathogens and weeds \u2013 more efficiently and sustainably. For instance, wheat pathogens are so pervasive and genetically adaptable that they easily overwhelm the natural defences of the cereal\u2019s huge and complex genome. Rothamsted scientists are hunting for genetic fixes to enable the crop to look after itself better and also for natural microbes to act as allies. In another branch of the portfolio, agronomists and ecologists are working together to exploit ecosystem services; they are investigating what level of the biosphere\u2019s \u201cnatural capital\u201d, such as the pest control offered by ladybirds and the pollination service provided by bees, can replace agriculture\u2019s technological innovations, such as chemical sprays.<\/p>\n

The third portfolio, Future Agri-Food Systems, is about making both arable and livestock farming more efficient and productive. The associated research programmes are also exploring ways of improving soil health and structure, of enhancing biodiversity, of reducing carbon footprints, and of raising the nutritional quality of produce. On Rothamsted\u2019s experimental farms at North Wyke in Devon, researchers are looking for ways to transfer nutrients more efficiently from soil to livestock rather than lose them as pollutants, and so yield higher value food from grazing land. Elsewhere, soil and crop scientists are exploring the links between soil, food and human health to assess the value of \u201cbiofortifying\u201d crops to enhance their nutritional benefits. Such work has implications for the UK and overseas.<\/p>\n

The institute\u2019s vision is one of engagement and communication \u2013 open, honest, direct \u2013 with the general public, with independent and state institutions, with industrialists and academics, and on national and international scales. It sees opportunities in the pressures driving change in the UK, Europe and around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are five global drivers of change to which we want to contribute: global food security; highly interconnected risks; technology integration; healthier diets; and the needs of a wider, greener bioeconomy,\u201d said Dobermann. \u201cIn the UK, crop productivity is challenged by increasing biotic threats to plant and animal health, by resistance to agrochemicals, by poor soil health, and by a slow rate of increase in yield and profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n

To improve farming\u2019s competitiveness, Rothamsted is expanding and extending its approaches to partnerships and innovation, its sharing of knowledge and its development of business opportunities, in the UK and abroad. \u201cSuch engagement is being woven into our science,\u201d said Angela Karp<\/a>, Director for Science Innovation, Engagement and Partnerships. \u201cOver the next five years, we will become an even more internationally vibrant hub for the agricultural sciences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karp is also leading the institute\u2019s moves towards \u201clean science\u201d in which laboratory ideas and anticipated outputs are shared with stakeholders early in a programme of research. \u201cThis new thinking will encourage a more dynamic and responsive approach that is aligned with the needs of users, even pivoting to other ideas when changes of direction are called for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The core of Rothamsted\u2019s success \u201cis having the right people doing the right work in the right way,\u201d said Donna Lipsky<\/a>, Director of Operations. She cites the recruitment of outstanding scientists, the creation of internationally competitive fellowships and investment in leadership development and talent management programmes. \u201cNot only are we focusing on having the best institute for today, we are also investing in our future,\u201d she noted, pointing to new student accommodation under construction at the institute\u2019s headquarters that will build on the growing number of postgraduate and postdoctoral students who seek to develop their expertise and careers at Rothamsted.<\/p>\n

Rothamsted is also launching its new website today. The site is designed as a dynamic platform for presenting updates of the institute\u2019s developing partnerships and work in the UK and overseas, and also to offer ready access to Rothamsted\u2019s agricultural databanks and to its research staff.<\/p>\n

Article source: Rothamsted Research<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFresh thinking plus global science yields lasting benefit.\u201d It\u2019s the modern mantra of the world\u2019s oldest research institute for agricultural science, which today launches an ambitious vision for the next five years at a time of unprecedented international uncertainty and diverse challenges, socially, economically and environmentally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[14,33,38,66,342,478,974,1004,1036,1047,1095,1107],"class_list":["post-6972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-achim-dobermann","tag-agriculture","tag-agriscience","tag-angela-karp","tag-donna-lipsky","tag-future-agri-food-systems","tag-research","tag-rothamsted-research","tag-science-portfolio","tag-securing-productivity","tag-strategy","tag-superior-crops"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/sustainable-agriculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}