How science and innovation is helping to feed the planet

As the end of the World Expo in Milan approaches, Government and civil society leaders are gathering to mark UN World Food Day. Participating nations will show commitment to addressing the challenge of feeding the world’s growing population.

It has been the central theme for this year’s Expo – and the UK’s message has been that we need smarter technology, creative thinking, and science and innovation to ensure that food supply continues to those who need it most.

With this in mind the international Science and Innovation Network has used the World Expo to showcase the best UK science agencies and research partnerships, around the world.  We’ve worked with the UK Space Agency, Met Office, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and a number of leading research institutes. Taken together, they have breadth of what the UK has to offer.

As natural resources come under pressure, farmers will need to produce crops using less energy. Precision farming can help with this,  better harnessing the power of Big Data for that farmers can now access about weather, soil composition, water availability, fertiliser use, and much more. At workshops in Milan, Montreal and Bejing – we demonstrated Big Data opportunities – how information from a variety of sources including satellites, human measurements, computer apps or crowd sourced information and social media- can help a farmer get the best out of his crops or animals.

The World Bank estimates that total annual losses for grain in storage in sub-Saharan Africa amount to $4 billion – more than the total value of food aid delivered to the region over the last decade. Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Robin Grimes hosted a workshop in Israel to discuss how UK innovative research can be used to combat the staggering food loss that occurs in post-harvest processes.

With the planet’s population due to hit 9 billion by 2050, it’s estimated that we will need a 70% global increase in food production by that time. Weather extremes and climate change require us to innovate our food production systems – so that for example they are resilient to flood and drought and changes in invasive pests and diseases, which could put millions at risk of food shortage.  In July SIN hosted colleagues from Columbia and Turkey to look at this issue.

In September, SIN Italy, together with the UKSA and Satellite Catapult, hosted a seminar on satellite applications for agriculture in the UK Pavilion. It showed how agricultural science and technology is rapidly becoming one of the world’s fastest growing and exciting sectors and in parallel, satellite-enabled services are providing significant benefits to a wide range of markets.

To mark the culmination of the UK’s participation at Expo, SIN and UKTI have worked with food artist Carl Warner, to tell the story of some of these innovations and how the UK is helping to ensure farming is viable.  From coffee farming in Ethiopia to supporting the development of flood-resistant rice – the UK continues to show global leadership in finding solutions to help feed the planet.