Global Food Security and Saskatchewan: GIFS in the Prairies

Transcription

1 Global Food Security and Saskatchewan: GIFS in the Prairies July 18, 2016 Sara Alexander Director, Marketing & Stakeholder Relations

2 Agenda What is Global Food Security? What is the Global Institute for Food Security? GIFS Vision, Mission What We Actually Do Our Researchers Speak Q&A and Discussion

3 The Global Institute for Food Security

4 GIFS Vision and Mission Vision: Ingenious science that delivers sustainable food security for the world. Mission: To help feed the world through transformative innovations in agriculture and food production that will empower both developed and developing countries to achieve local food security.

5 Founding Partners

6 The world needs to produce 100% more food each year by 2050 to feed our growing population

7 GIFS Developed & Developing Worlds

8 What Does GIFS Do? Discovery Science Global Conversations - #GIFSconf2016 Collaborations Science, Policy, Industry Social License

9 GIFS Research Pillars

10 GIFS Priority Areas of Research Seed Development and Quality Root and Soil Biology (Rhizosphere) Digital Agriculture Crop Genomics and Bioinformatics Pulses, Legumes and Protein Crops

11 Seed and Developmental Biology Headed by: Dr. Tim Sharbel

12 All have decided to no longer have sex

13 Apomixis in plants: Naturally occurring asexual reproduction via seeds Sex Apomixis Parents Gametes Offspring

14 Hybrids are a critical contributors to feeding the world

15 The challenge: Hybrid seed, agribusiness and farmers 1. Production of inbred lines takes time (up to 10 years). 2. Inbred lines require resources to be maintained. 3. Resources required for pollination during crosses. 4. Natural selection for larger agribusinesses. Springer and Stupar Genome Research 17:264

16 Apomixis could fix hybrid genotypes in crop plants Inbred line 1 Inbred line 2 Heterosis in the genetically identical 1 st generation hybrids

17 Cross the F1 generation - Sex is BAD for the farmer! SEX and Meiosis

18 Cross the F1 generation without sex heterosis is fixed APOMIXIS - NO Sex, NO Meiosis

19 Some numbers...apomixis applied to present crops The stabilization of heterozygous genotypes using apomixis would make breeding programs faster and cheaper resulting in an estimated benefit, in the production of hybrid rice alone, of more than $2.5 billion per annum 4. The propagation-related benefits of apomixis technology could save cassava and potato growers as much as $3.2 billion per year

20 Diversification Single generation hybrids Production of limitless numbers of hybrid cultivars Niche breeding cultivars tailored to specific environments Farmers become innovators (generate 3 rd world business) Local and Global benefits

21 Root-Soil-Microbial Interactions Headed by: TBA

22 Meeting the global challenges of climate change and population growth with a better understanding and control of rhizosphere processes will be one of the most important science frontiers of the next decade...

23 Root-Soil-Microbial Interactions Targeted breeding of root traits Crops important to Canadian agriculture

24 The Rhizosphere

25 Root Phenotypes

26 Root-Soil-Microbial Interactions

27 Digital & Computational Agriculture Multidisciplinary Team

28 Proposal: Designing Crops for Global Food Security Announced: December 4 th 2014 Application deadline: March 2 nd 2015 Funding to be awarded: Up to $350 million Awards announced: July 2015 $37.5 M awarded

29 Phenometrics Image acquisition technologies Synchrotron Imaging Computational Informatics Precision Phenotyping Association Genetics Plant Pedological Phenotypes Betatron laser imaging Neutron beam imaging MALDI MS imaging Sensor Technology Phenotype data management Distributed HP computing Data acquisition / analysis Pheno-informatics Crop Genomics and Bioinformatics Societal and Developing World Impact

30 Plant Phenotyping and Imaging Research Centre (P 2 IRC) Establish a new centre which assembles synchrotron imaging, conventional imaging (macro and micro), photon, neutron and mass spectroscopy into a unified data platform, which permits association genetics to be applied on a massive scale.

31 Phytotron and Field-based imaging and phenotyping X-ray confocal microscopy IR, soft X-ray, hard X-ray imaging Radioisotope imaging (Cyclotron) Neutron whole plant imaging Wake-field laser microscopy MALDI-2D Mass Spec imaging Pheno-informatics unit

32 Proof of Concept: Phenotype to Genotype in a Model system Wheat and lentil phenotyping: Field-scale phenomics Capturing Canola: Phenotyping aided by the Arabidopsis genome/phenome Image acquisition technologies for crop plants: rendering roots Defining digital signatures in plants: Incremental or transformative technology? Mobilizing design technology to a skeptical public Digital imaging

33 Researchers Speak

34 Questions?

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