Scientific Areas of Interest and Challenge. Rob Edwards 2015 BioSynergy Conference Sand Hutton

Transcription

1 Scientific Areas of Interest and Challenge Rob Edwards 2015 BioSynergy Conference Sand Hutton

2 Overview Science challenges in the agrifood sector Crop Health The opportunity- learning from the medical sector: from cure to prevention New routes to translation

3 Challenges of 21 st Century Climate change Feeding the world Depletion of resources

4 Agriculture in the front line Climate change & Extreme weather Invasive diseases/ pests NPK resource use efficiency Energy dependence Land degradation/ soil conservation

5 Nutrition and Health 1.4 billion overweight Vs 0.85 billion starving A population increasingly overfed (63% adults overweight or obese) but under-nourished (3 million clinically diagnosed) Diet now driving disease prevalence (type II diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, breast/endometrium/prostate/colon cancer) Food waste No single silver bullets

6 Evolving Concepts Spare Vs Share the land with nature Resilience in food production and supply Reversing the yield gap Sustainable nutrition Time for a 2 nd Green Revolution grounded as much in social and natural science

7 Government responses A greater drive for translation (RC/ Innovate UK) A growing appreciation of the value of a UK- Bioeconomy Agritech Strategy and Innovation Centres with 160 million new funding New initiatives Food and Health, Food Industry, Plant and animal health

8 From Protection to Health: One Health Strategy driven by national risk registers in invasive and endemic diseases/ pests Challenging regulatory framework (pesticides, vet meds) Widespread growth of resistance As in health care- a move from cure to prevention Focus on crop health

9 UK Wheat Yield Area Harvested, Ha Yield, Hg/Ha 2,500,000 2,000,000 Land vs. Yield 90,000 80,000 70,000 1,500,000 60,000 50,000 1,000,000 40,000 30, ,000 20,000 10, Year Source: Defra statistics (the solid line is fitted as two cumulative logistics (R 2 =97.4%))

10 Causes of the Yield Gap Theoretical Potential Yield Experiment Station Yield Potential Farm Yield Actual Farm Yield APPLICATION OF ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES + ADOPTION OF BEST PRACTICES = TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH Gap 0 Enabling technologies new varieties Gap I Non-genetic technologies- precision ag, new crop protection technologies, improved engineering Gap II Management can be narrowed with existing technologies Biological constraints Variety Weeds Pests & diseases Soil Water Socio-economic constraints Costs Credits Tradition & attitudes Knowledge Policies & regulations Modified from:

11 Protecting Crops- from competition, disease, herbivory and climate 30,000 species of weeds Crop plants must compete with 10,000 species of planteating insects 3,000 species of nematodes Sustainable food supply cannot be guaranteed without the use of crop protection products: each acre of cropland (USA) contains 50 to 300 million buried weed seeds 20-40% of potential food production is lost every year to pests and diseases

12 Importance of crop protection in global food production Without crop protection 40% of the world s food would not exist 100% 80% Remaining potential 60% 40% 20% Extra yield from crop protection today Yield with no crop protection 0% Rice Wheat Corn Soybean Cotton Potato E-C Oerke, Crop Losses to Pests; Journal of Agricultural Science (2006)

13 Agrochemicals- a cornerstone of intensive agriculture in the UK The UK is the 5 th largest user of pesticides in Europe Within the UK fungicides are the most widely used pesticide group A heavy reliance on an increasingly reduced range of chemistries Limited variety in rotation A challenged sector

14 Research Research Research Development R&D Cost, $M Development Development Number of years between a first synthesis and a first sale of a product Challenge 1: Blockage in new a.i. s coming to market- No new herbicide MoAs released since 1982; costs continue to escalate / Registration Environmental Chemistry Toxicology Field Trials Chemistry/Biology Tox/Env Chemistry Biology Chemistry Lead Time Year Phillips McDougall, The Cost of New Agrochemical Product Discovery, Development and Registration; 2010

15 Challenge 2: The effect of EU Pesticide Legislation- from Risk to Hazard based assessment Sets out restrictions on selling, supplying or storing pesticides and precautions to protect the health of humans, the environment, and particularly water, when using pesticides The Control of Pesticides Regulations (SI 1986/1510) The Plant Protection Products Directive (91/414/EEC) Control of Pesticides (Amendment) Regulations (SI 1997/188) The 91/414 Directive is implemented in the UK by the Plant Protection Products Regulations (PPPR) Environment + Safety ~ Risk vs. Hazard (endocrine disruptors only) = Cost increase in registration European legislation, Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009

16 Challenge 3 -Resistance to Agrochemicals Observed with all major classes of crop protection (chemical) agents Can result in a total breakdown in pest/ pathogen/ weed control and total yield loss Less obvious put perhaps more insidious effects on on food quality and safety (eg: fungal toxins)

17 Herbicide Resistance in grass weeds in the UK Grass weeds now affect 1.2 M Ha or UK arable agriculture Herbicide resistance now widespread in black-grass and rye-grass Responsible for up to 20%- 100% yield losses in wheat Source: Defra

18 Crop protection in 2015 Agrochemicals will continue to play an important role in ensuring crop yield and quality BUT there are major sustainability issues Potential solutions Challenge the precautionary principle Make better use of what we have left Invest in future technologies

19 New approaches Tweaking existing crop protection technologies will buy us time but are not long term fixes Learning from the health sector a move from cure to prevention is needed 2012 GO-Science Food Research Partnership sponsored a new national strategy to be developed for crop health To be incorporated into current work on integrating plant and animal health strategies in the UK.

20 Key Recommendations- A National Centre for Crop Health and Protection Integration of existing (chemical) and developing (biotech, engineering) technologies Fast tracking value of new approaches in pest/ weed control (eg: omics) Resistance monitoring and intervention Better use of data systems/ predictive modeling Knowledge transfer New skills development Proactive engagement with regulators

21 New Opportunities: The dawn of personalized agriculture Crop protection issues can be regional or even field-specific Adopting principles applied in human healthcare has the potential to revolutionize crop health by applying precision diagnostics linked to specific solutions Treating the patient not the disease

22 Next generation mass sequencing of individual populations of pests/ weeds and pathogens Identification of genes associated with pesticide Resistance Ion Torrent 454 Titanium (Roche) Illumina (MiSeq) -Specialist informatics support

23 From omics to portable low cost molecular diagnostics for resistance testing in the field LFD LAMP reaction Clondiag

24 FINALLY- Mobilizing University research to Translation: From Idea to Application NU-Fera Translational Research - the new scientific methods and technologies, interdisciplinary approaches, and collaborative institutional arrangements being developed to narrow the gap between basic science and its application to product and process innovation Basic research Applied Research Development of products and processes Production of goods and services Consumption (endusers) Upstream activities Knowledge exchange about science and innovation potential Downstream activities RAND, Translational Research and Knowledge in agriculture and food production, 2011 Knowledge exchange about applications, markets and customers/users

25 Acknowledgements Black-grass herbicide resistance initiative Home Grown Cereals Authority