Farming Technologies – Challenges and Opportunities
Sir Mark WalportChief Scientific Adviser to HM Government
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• Knowledge translated to economic advantage
• Infrastructure resilience
• Underpinning policy with evidence
• Science for emergencies
• Advocacy and leadership for science
Government Chief Scientific Adviser
Credit: iStockphoto
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This is what I do
Pesticide risks and resistance Demographic change Animal Health
Faced with challenges, my role is to:-
•Draw in experts
•Encourage cross-silo thinking
•Make connections between different areas of science
•Question existing ideas
Climate change
Credit: Thoursie, sxc.hu
Credit: Josh Landis, NSFCredit: iStockphoto
Credit: iStockphoto
Science in Emergencies - Ashes to Ashes
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Credit: @dyntr (CC-BY-ND-2.0) Credit: V. Queloz, ETH Zurich
Resilience – Flooding on the Somerset Levels
COBRMeetings
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Credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
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Immediate Challenges to UK Farming
• Public confidence in food supply
• Spread of Bovine TB
• Withdrawal of pesticides
??Credit: iStockphoto Credit: iStockphoto Credit: iStockphoto
Granitic rock
PhotosynthesisSea-spray
Fertiliser
Meteorological variation
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Food Provenance – Geographical Origin Isotope Approach
Confirm Authenticity
2H
15N
13C34S
87Sr
Geological variation
Metabolism
Spread of Bovine TB
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Distinguishing Risk and Hazard - Pesticides
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Credit: S_E, ShutterstockCredit: iStockphoto
Future Challenges to UK Farming
• Land and Population
• Price Volatility
• Climate
• Balancing Biodiversity, Ecosystems & Food Production
• The UK and European Competitive Environment
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Land and Population - Future supply and demand
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Credit: vauvau (CC-BY-2.0)
•Crop productivity will be affected by higher temperatures and changes to water availability
•Higher temperatures will also increase stress upon cattle
•Disease patterns will also change as the migration patterns of carriers of plant, animal and human diseases will change, posing risks to both human health but also agricultural productivity
•Warmer oceans and ocean acidification will also impact food security
At lower levels of temperature rise there may be some positive benefits for crop production at higher latitudes, but at higher levels of temperature rise the net effect of climate change is expected to be negative
Climate change
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Life Science Research – Raise profile of agricultural research?
• Strategy for UK Life Sciences
• Big Data Revolution• Prime Minister’s dementia
challenge• 100,000 Genome Project
• July 2013 first ever Agri-Tech Strategy (£160M)
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Credit: David Hares
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GMOs
• What organism?
• What gene?
• What purpose?
• The specific application – not the generic technology
New Technologies - Managing risk, not ducking it
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Credit: IRRI (CC-BY-2.0)
Credit: Rosalee Yagihara (CC-BY-2.0)
The policy challenge: Viewing difficult issues through lenses
1. Biannual Public Attitudes Tracker, Wave 7, November 2013 (Food Standards Agency)
2. British Beekeepers Association, Winter Survival Survey, June 2013
3. http://www.croplifeamerica.org/crop-protection/pesticide-facts
Respondents concerned about use of pesticides to grow food1
Use of crop protection products increase crop
productivity by 20 – 50%3
Bee colony
losses in 2012/13
reported by British
Beekeepers
Association2
34%
25%
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Credit: Thomas Shahan (CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0)
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Solutions Involve all Tools
Technology transfer
International collaboration/ investment
Public dialogue
YouTube: Fair use
Credit: Bananastock
Credit: OJO Images
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Conclusions
• Get evidence base right
• Economic importance of agricultural industry
(7% GVA)
• ONE Health, ONE Team
• Partnerships with industry and research