Tag: research

Innovation is a critical part of solving global food security challenges, and presents business opportunities too, says Calum Murray.

But, if the UK economy is to maintain its own food security and  benefit from the potential  global commercial opportunities that will prevail, we need to ensure that the business base both exists and is adequately supported.

As the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board understands that breaking down the barriers to innovation can be hard; these might include a traditional mind set, policy and regulatory hurdles, available expertise or adequate funding.

Continue reading Linking and clever thinking

New insights are needed for an age-old problem, says Sara Kirk.

A recent survey (PDF) undertaken for the Global Food Security programme has revealed that more than half the UK population felt that ‘food security is not an issue that affects me, rather it’s more a problem for people in developing countries’.

This finding is notable when considered in the light of comments by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier de Schutter, who condemned Canada over what he saw as unacceptable rates of food insecurity in that country, where one in ten families with a child under six is unable to meet their daily food (PDF) needs.
Continue reading Food insecurity and nutrition

A paper that details the scope of the food security challenge provides useful insights, says Janet Allen.

An interesting and potentially very useful contribution to the thinking and discussion around food security has appeared in the form of an open access paper The top 100 questions of importance to the future of global agriculture.

It is too easy to be sceptical and say what we need are 100 answers, but if you start with good questions you are more likely to generate good answers. The questions in this paper were produced by a wide consultation process involving 45 institutions and finally 55 authors based in 21 countries.
Continue reading 100 questions for global agriculture