The UK's biggest funder of agri-food research, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), has launched a consultation on future research to tackle the growing but preventable food security crisis.
BBSRC claims the world faces a growing food security crisis, with an inexorably growing population, global harvests threatened by climate change, the very real threat of exotic and endemic animal disease and with a global economic downturn disrupting the flow of trade.
The consultation, on behalf of the UK Research Councils, is seeking views on research relating to the production, supply and consumption of food both for UK needs and more widely in an international context of global food security. The Research Councils have identified topics as potential priorities for future research and the barriers preventing delivery and are seeking stakeholder views on these.
Responses to the consultation will shape a food security research road map. This will set out the research across a wide range of disciplines that will be needed to address the challenges of ensuring future food security, including both long-term research and work with more immediate impact.
Professor Janet Allen, BBSRC director of research, said: "We need to increase global food supply by 50 per cent by 2030. This consultation is the opportunity for all interested organisations and individuals to comment on the future research we need to deliver this and avoid a growing food security crisis.
“We are looking for responses to questions that include research targets in food production and supply, ways to ensure knowledge transfer into practical application and public policy and providing the skills and training we need."
The consultation is open now and will close on July 17.
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