The future of the UK fresh produce offer has fallen into the grip of a research crunch in recent years, following repeated warnings that funding, the number of scientists moving into the field and partnerships with the industry must be boosted in a bid to secure the long-term sustainability of the sector. The way out of this situation has become more important than ever, now that the wider issue of food security is being talked about at all levels ahead of the prospect of nine billion mouths to feed by 2050.
However, the announcement last year that Warwick HRI is set to close by 2012 as part of a merger aimed at plugging a £2 million-a-year leak in costs has been held up as an example of what may happen to more institutions if no action is taken.
In fact, Horticultural Development chair Neil Bragg last year predicted the future of nine research stations, rating the National Institute of Agricultural Botany as “poor” and claiming that Stockbridge Technology Centre would cease to exist unless “we get behind it”.
However, he maintained that the future of the Scottish Agricultural College was “fair” and that East Malling Research, the Scottish Crop Research Institute and Greenmount in Northern Ireland have solid prospects.
DEFRA minister Jim Fitzpatrick last week told FPJ that the department has singled out R&D in its Food 2030 report, stressing that it “has to be at the forefront of what we do”.
“Already, we are putting in £90m over five years through the Technology Strategy Board, co-funded by DEFRA and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC),” he says. “And we know what a difference improved food sector skills will make, which is why Hilary Benn called people together in the spring to chart a new way forward increasing skills and there is now a new BBSRC Advanced Training Partnership scheme to meet industry needs.”
But the situation has been decades in the making and, in recent years, R&D has been identified as an area that needs attention time and time again.
A report released last year by The Smith Institute, named Feeding Britain, noted the decrease in government funding for R&D over the last 30 years and the closure of research facilities as a result of reduced government funding for primary horticulture as both a weakness and a threat to the UK fruit and vegetable sector.
The study reiterated the findings of a Promar report released back in 2006 on the future of UK horticulture, which stated that there was a “continuing need for innovation in all aspects of the industry, and that this requires continuing investment in research at the fundamental, strategic and applied levels”.
This view was supported by researcher Brian Jamieson, who wrote: “The production horticulture industry has a continuing need for a programme of applied R&D, mainly crop-specific, supported by industrial levy and managed by the Horticultural Development Company, and strategic R&D, beyond the scope of levy funding, that addresses the broader challenges of environmental impact and resource efficiency; increased technology capability and infrastructure; and sustained human health and well-being. Legislative changes (e.g impending EU changes to pesticides legislation) will present further challenges that will require underpinning R&D.”
This was backed by more recent research carried out by the Centre for Food Policy at City University, based on interviews with UK food chain stakeholders, which stated that “the reduction of public funding of agricultural research by successive governments is widely seen to have set British farming back and penalised UK farmers in relation to EU competitors”.
EMR head of science Chris Atkinson admits that when it comes to research, “people have taken their eye off the ball”, but he maintains that the challenges of food security and climate change can still be tackled head on, provided the UK establishes a strong R&D base. “We are being asked to create another agricultural revolution because we must produce food in a more sustainable way, but with more intensity, against the background of climate change,” he says. “The third issue is based around the consumption of fresh produce and the way our diets are heading, with threats of obesity and related health issues a major issue for the UK… We are interested in breeding produce that is high in nutritional benefits such as fibre, minerals and bioactive compounds so that consumers can get more of these into their diet, reducing the burden of producing more to get the same level of nutrients...
“The increase in production per year has gone up at a certain rate and until 20 years ago, it was constant,” he continues. “Now, the increase has started to decline and that has been linked to a decrease in R&D. Clearly, that cannot go on if we are going to be able to support 9bn people in the coming years.”
The question of food security in particular is one that has reached a political level across the world but on the ground, the research sector knows that only science and future development will help achieve the food production needed to feed the projected population.
The BBSRC launched a consultation last summer on future research on how to tackle the possibility of a food security crisis. The results of the consultation and key issues identified by several workshops will contribute to the broader vision of how research will help resolve the food security challenge. A multi-agency research partnership is to be announced soon.
BBSRC director of research Professor Janet Allen insists that the best way forward is to focus on increasing efficiency in food production, in order to tackle the wider issue of food security. This is essential, she says, if the world will be able to feed the predicted population and the need for food production to double by 2050.
“BBSRC’s role is to fund the best scientists to conduct world-class research across the entire agri-food sector,” explains Allen. “There is already a lot of excellent research going on in this area and the impact of agri-food research on farming and food production has been critical to most of the significant advances made over the preceding century. What is absolutely vital now is that we build on this successful scientific research to deliver increased efficiencies in food production. We need to double food productivity using less land and fewer inputs and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of agriculture, and efforts to answer this grand challenge [must be] co-ordinated across the agri-food sector.
“It can take 20 years for the best fundamental research to be translated into tools, technologies, policy and advice that can be used to deliver enough safe, nutritious food in a sustainable way. This means that we have to act now and optimise efforts.”
This process will need all the funding that can be obtained, which is easier said than done at a time when finances are being stretched and all industries are learning to achieve more with fewer resources. However, the research sector is clear that the public sector must come together with the food industry to make the most of what they have and make sure that research is relevant and timely.
BBSRC director of innovation and skills Dr Celia Caulcott says: “Partnership between public sector funders and industry is vital to deliver a sustainable increase in food production. BBSRC currently operates an ‘industry club’ model in several topic areas, including diet and health, and we are looking to launch one focused on crop improvement as well. Industry club members contribute 10 per cent of the funding to an initiative that researchers can then apply to for funding to carry out research within a particular topic.
“This industry club approach, along with other BBSRC industry partnering schemes, ensures that the research base undertakes science of real, strategic relevance to industry. The other vital benefits include the development of networks, bringing together scientists and users to share knowledge and understanding, as well as expertise and ideas. All these are invaluable when it comes to turning research into marketable applications. We need the industry to engage with us as it is often through such partnership, working together, that lab science can be translated into commercial applications relevant to crops in the field in the shortest period of time.”
The relevant research at the right time has been helping the fresh produce industry improve its offer over many years, but it is going to take continued steps forward to bring the sector to where it needs to be if it is going to satisfy future demand.
“We need the industry to come forward and make the most of opportunities to get research funded in the next few months, through the Technology Strategy Board’s current £13m funding programme,” says Atkinson. “I would like to see bigger companies and producer organisations getting involved with this…
“I have a very positive attitude. This government has done a lot of work in identifying and starting to generate work on what the problems are in the food industry. Another government could not say they have got it wrong, but clearly what we do need is a situation where it is not just rhetoric.”
So where does the research sector see itself in five years’ time, especially given that this is not long in the context of the timelines that many scientists are used to?
“Clearly, progress will have been made and with food security forming a central part of BBSRC’s strategic plan for 2010-15, we will be right there making it happen,” says Allen. “Modern technologies will have an impact on the ability of scientists to select for traits in crop plants that have improved resilience to the anticipated changes in the environment, such as rises in average night-time temperature. An important issue will be to try to devise methods of maintaining yields on a background of reduced input of fertilisers, as fertiliser prices reflect the price of oil, as the production of fertilisers is very dependent on fossil fuels. The focus must not just be on crop yields but on finding ways to secure supplies of healthy food in a sustainable fashion.
“Whatever is achieved in five years, we can be fairly certain that there will still be plenty of work to do to address this challenge. As long as we are dealing with a growing population, limited oil and energy and a changing climate, not to mention socio-economic factors affecting food production and distribution, there will still be important questions to be answered by excellent bioscience research in the UK.”
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