Planting seeds for the future of food |
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Authors: | Hilary Green Pierre Broun Ismail Cakmak Liam Condon Nina Fedoroff Juan Gonzalez‐Valero Ian Graham Josette Lewis Maurice Moloney Ruth K Oniang'o Nteranya Sanginga Peter Shewry Anne Roulin |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Nutrition, Health and Wellness and Sustainability, Nestec SA, Vevey, Switzerland;2. Nestlé Research and Development Centre, Tours, France;3. Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey;4. Bayer CropScience AG, Monheim am Rhein, Germany;5. Department of Biology, Penn State University, PA, USA;6. Syngenta International AG, Basel, CH, Switzerland;7. Department of Biology, Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, University of York, York, UK;8. Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK;9. World Food Center, UC Davis, Davis, USA;10. Global Institute for Food Security, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada;11. Rural Outreach Africa, Nairobi, Kenya;12. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria |
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Abstract: | The health and wellbeing of future generations will depend on humankind's ability to deliver sufficient nutritious food to a world population in excess of 9 billion. Feeding this many people by 2050 will require science‐based solutions that address sustainable agricultural productivity and enable healthful dietary patterns in a more globally equitable way. This topic was the focus of a multi‐disciplinary international conference hosted by Nestlé in June 2015, and provides the inspiration for the present article. The conference brought together a diverse range of expertise and organisations from the developing and industrialised world, all with a common interest in safeguarding the future of food. This article provides a snapshot of three of the recurring topics that were discussed during this conference: soil health, plant science and the future of farming practice. Crop plants and their cultivation are the fundamental building blocks for a food secure world. Whether these are grown for food or feed for livestock, they are the foundation of food and nutrient security. Many of the challenges for the future of food will be faced where the crops are grown: on the farm. Farmers need to plant the right crops and create the right conditions to maximise productivity (yield) and quality (e.g. nutritional content), whilst maintaining the environment, and earning a living. New advances in science and technology can provide the tools and know‐how that will, together with a more entrepreneurial approach, help farmers to meet the inexorable demand for the sustainable production of nutritious foods for future generations. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. |
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Keywords: | agriculture soil plant science nutrition security food security sustainability |
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