Sustainability of food systems. Agri-food environment. Agriculture is the integration of many disciplines

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1 Harnessing New Agriculture Technologies for Affordable and Sustainable Food Supply New Technologies and Innovations in Improving and Delivering Sustainable Food Production Systems Les Copeland Editor-in-Chief, Cereal Chemistry (AACC-I) Sustainability of food systems Increase food production productivity and profitability across the agri-food supply chain environmental stewardship Health-promoting foods with consumer acceptance alleviate hunger, inadequate nutrition over consumption - modified composition of produce - bioavailability of micronutrients - bioactives, reduced allergens, nutraceuticals, - acceptability of whole grain foods, pulses increasing production will not address problems of excess nutrition Manila, 20 Nov 2017 Van Gogh, Wheatfield agriculture is an instrument of public health 2 Agri-food environment Population increasing, older, more urbanised, more spending power - more pre-prepared meals, convenience foods, bought meals - supply chains increase time and distance between food production and purchase Existential threats - resource base - scarcity of water, competition for land use - biosecurity - climate - social licence Most food manufacturing for Asia will be in Asia - source of raw materials, capacity and capability Agriculture is the integration of many disciplines Landscape mapping New plant varieties Improved productivity Soil science Digital technology Plant breeding Agronomy Animal science Agribusiness Increased profit Technology opens up possibilities and presents options - socioeconomic analysis determines how it is best applied and the benefits - business case to identify value proposition, risks for investment Images from The University of Sydney

2 Agri-food systems are complex Technological change is the main driver of growth of food supply Making correct decisions is difficult - limited empirical data - lag time between action and response - link between cause and effect not obvious - confounding variables Risk management approach for decision making - nothing we do is completely safe - we all engage in risky behaviour Understanding hazard and risk - hazard - potential source of harm - risk - likelihood of harm occurring - risk-reward relationship - risk appetite Adoption of research discoveries - resources, varieties, practices - exploiting new technologies not specifically targeted to agri-food sector - from emergence of modern humans Mostly incremental changes - integration of existing knowledge across disciplines at the right time and place - disruptive breakthroughs are rare Green Revolution (1960s) Conservation farming (1970s) Precision agriculture (1980s) GMOs (1990s) 1900s 1910s 1920s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Technology advances with impact on agriculture Farm mechanization Selective plant breeding Industrial N fertilizers Commercial release of hybrid corn DNA double helix Use of mutants to analyze phenotype Dwarf cereal varieties Crop protection chemicals Recombinant DNA technology Personal computing Gene sequencing Remote sensing, GIS, GPS Internet, WiFi Bioinformatics Transgenics Next generation biotechnologies Digital technologies Copeland L (2015) Farm Policy Journal 13 (1), Current rate of change is unprecedented Digital transformation of the value chain Next generation biotechnologies Spectroscopy, imaging Computational biology Cloud computing, smart phone apps Artificial intelligence Social media, era of populism Smart farms and supply chains Remotely controlled operations, robotics, drones Real time sensing - soil, water, plants, animals, weather - data-based decisions Digital soil mapping - land use Variable rate technologies Process control, trace-back systems Internet of things Provenance of foods - consumer interest in how and where food is produced, ethical values, quality and nutrition Images from The University of Sydney

3 Provenance of foods Strategies to meet the challenges Improve genetics of crops and livestock Humane Choice True Free Range is a whole farm accreditation system for Australian and New Zealand true free range, pasture raised pork, beef, lamb, chicken and egg producers. humanechoice.com.au vivino - an adventurous wine app Discovering a company s political donations is easy. Better practices - on farm and post-farm Reduce food loss - pests, diseases, weeds Buy products that support your values. Scan a product s barcode Scan or search by individual company name or specific product. Discover company s political spending See the political donations of the CEO, Board of Directors, PAC s and employees of the company you are buying from. Reduce food wastage - consumers Make informed purchasing decisions. Buy that product, look for alternatives or share information with your friends. Micro-analytical devices SCiO pocket-sized NIR micro-spectrometer Research targets for plant improvement Exploring genetic diversity in wild relatives of modern crops - plant breeders need genetic variation (natural, generated mutants) - use of GM to direct discovery of natural variants - up to 95% of genetic variation lost through domestication and selective breeding Consumer evaluation of produce and foods for quality, nutrition, compliance consumerphysics.com/myscio Reveal real-time forage analysis using cargill.com Need for measurable indicators to observe and assess the status of a system Better adaptation to heat and drought - shorter maturity cycles to reduce exposure to abiotic and biotic stress Improving water and nutrient use efficiency - root architecture Salt tolerance so that more brackish water can be used for irrigation Further development of hybrid wheat and rice to increase yield Improving photosynthesis - rubisco, reducing photorespiration, C4 rice Better diagnostic tools for pests and diseases Compositional changes to improve quality and nutritional value of produce Pharming

4 Better practices Cropping and livestock systems Cover crops for increased biodiversity and soil protection Perennials - softer environmental footprint, more efficient N and P use Legumes in agricultural systems - increase biological N-fix - animal production in tropical environments - increase legume grains in the human diet Subsistence and niche crops In the biotechnology pipeline Next generation sequencing Genome wide association studies Gene editing Microbiomics Epigenetics Micro-analytical devices Synthetic biology - sorghum, cassava, millets, Integrated management systems for pests, weeds Next generation sequencing Enabling technology for many applications Assembly of many short-read lengths Gigabases of sequence per day, but may have gaps DNA sequencing - genotyping, identifying genetic variation, genetic markers associated with quantitative trait loci (QTLs), genomic selection, hybrid breeding - tens of thousands of markers vs hundreds - over 100 plant genomes available, many crop species Genome wide association studies Determines associations between genetic variation and a phenotype DNA from many accessions is sequenced to identify genetic variations between individuals Statistical analysis to find variations that occur more frequently in individuals with a particular phenotype (condition) Variations can be associated with specific chromosomal regions (QTLs) RNA sequencing transcriptomics - gene expression integrates effects of regulatory sites, epigenetics - single cell (medicine) tissue specific profiling, cell differentiation, plant development cellular variation in stress-induced gene expression Arabinoxylans (AX) are important functional constituents of cereal grains Genetic variability and AX content was investigated in a set of 104 wheats Identified 19 QTLs associated with AX content Used to select parent varieties for breeding Marcotuli et al. (2015). PLoS One 2015, 10(7): e

5 Microbiomes Most aspects of physiology affected by associated microbes Human gut microbiome determines health and well-being Microbes are critical in agro-ecosystems - essential in soil fertility, root growth, plant nutrition, plant protection, stress tolerance - rhizosphere, phyllosphere, endobiome, soil microbiome Epigenetics Phenotypic variation due to chemical modifications on DNA or associated proteins (no change in DNA coding sequence) Involved in adaptation to environment and transmitting information about ecological niches to progeny Epimutations may be induced by environmental influences MICHELLE POSSUM NUNGUARRAYI Indigenous Australian art Linking genotype to phenotype is a bottleneck Genomics DNA sequence, chromosomal location and function of all genes in a species Phenotype observable characteristics (physical, developmental, biochemical) that characterize an organism Reverse genetics Gene RNA Proteins Phenotype Forward genetics Transcriptomics genes that are active/inactive under a particular set of conditions Proteomics proteins produced under a particular set of conditions Metabolomics abundance of small molecules under a particular set of conditions Major advances in these technologies Relevant to plant improvement and agricultural practices Explored with genomics technologies Source: OpenStax Biology ( c72e-48f5-b51ef14f21b5eabd@9.85:82/biology) Our ability to extract knowledge from the vast amount of accumulated data is limited by a rudimentary understanding of biology Gene editing Customizable tools to alter gene expression or silence genes (knockouts) Guide system directs a nuclease enzyme to create a double stranded break at a specific site in the DNA - site directed nucleases Natural DNA repair mechanisms can delete (insert) nucleotides at site directed by a template - changes may just be a single nucleotide Directed by knowledge of the genome Protein-based recognition (TALENs, Zn finger nucleases) RNA-based recognition (CRISPR) No foreign DNA, so not considered transgenic Many aplications - tomatoes, maize, canola, rice, flax, apples, mushrooms, cattle, CRISPR technology Developed in 2012 Causing great excitement for potential applications in medicine and agriculture Based on natural bacterial defense against viruses Small RNA guide molecules can be custom-made to match a specific site in a specific gene Changes in reproductive cells will be heritable Capabilities of CRISPR technology are still being defined - technology evolving rapidly to overcome limitations (off-target mutations, repair mistakes) Gene drives - CRISPR-based mechanism to bias inheritance so that a gene spreads through a population at a faster rate than by normal inheritance - potential tool to eradicate insect-borne diseases (e.g., malaria) - risks being assessed (ecological, public health)

6 Regulation Current regulations on GM were formulated 30 years ago - the science was very different - no gene editing tools Will gene editing will be more acceptable to consumers than transgenics? - difficult to detect modifications using CRISPR - single base changes are indistinguishable from natural variation - if no foreign DNA involved applications are not subject to regulation (USA, Canada, Argentina, Germany) - how will altering DNA methylation be regulated Regulation should be based more on principle of equivalence of the product than on the process Agaricus bisporus mushrooms modified to resist browning by silencing one of the PPO genes Nature 532, 293 (21 April 2016) Agri-food workforce of the future Technology capable Many services will be delivered by people without an agri-food background - technology, data, communications Larger, consolidated enterprises - demand for specialist advisory services agronomy, soils, water, plant and animal diseases agribusiness, finance, ecommerce, risk management, processing, logistics, marketing, regulatory issues, Decline in need for unskilled labour - the left-behinds Accreditation Social license Public trust by the community that activities are consistent with social expectations and the values of stakeholders Earned through responsible operating practices, engagement and communication Slow to build, but quick to erode Urban consumers have lost connection with agriculture Scientists need to tell their story accurately and responsibly - key messages in simple language but not over-trivialised - critique the popular media to dispel myths - engage more with social scientists Concluding thoughts Discovery and adoption of new technology are the keys to the future - multi-disciplinary research - innovations not targeted to agriculture - identify researchable questions to make best use of the new tools Rapid advances in science have created asymmetry of knowledge - lack of trust of science - people turn to other sources for advice (family, friends, social media) - decisions based increasingly on attitudes and values Most people are in favour of innovation but fear change