Growers and farmers must move forward with a united approach if they are to meet challenges to UK food production in the coming years according to a leading scientist.
Professor Chris Pollock's study, Feeding the Future: Innovation Priorities for Primary Food Production in the UK to 2030, recommends seven research priorities, including a unified approach from government and producers towards R&D, in order to sustain the future of UK food production.
'In the first half of this century we will be part of a global food network that has to produce 50 per cent more food with less available land,' said Pollock.
The study - which was commissioned by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), the NFU, the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and the Agricultural Industries Confederation - also recommends using modern technologies such as genetic breeding programmes to increase productivity.
John Godfrey, chair of AHDB, said that the report must be taken seriously at the highest level. He concluded: 'Last week in a speech to the Royal Society the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, challenged the scientific community of Great Britain to lead the world in agri-science.
'Only by raising our industry’s productivity through sustainable intensification can we deliver the production levels that are needed. Only through science and innovation can we make this possible.”
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