As one Defra agency appears to be finally learning the painful lessons of IT rollouts gone wrong, another seems to have walked into the same trap. £75 million food production research project unveiled
A MAJOR new £75 million investment programme to increase ‘sustainable food productivity’ has been unveiled.
Under the programme – the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform – the money will be invested over the next five years to support ‘innovative research and development’.
Research will cover areas like crop productivity, sustainable livestock production, waste reduction and management and greenhouse gas reduction.
The project is a joint initiative by the Technology Strategy Board, Defra and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
They said the aim was is to ‘bring Government, business and researchers together in a major initiative to stimulate the development of new technologies that will increase food productivity, while decreasing the environmental impact of the food and farming industries’.
The first project will see up to £13m invested in new research and development to help crop growers to respond to the challenges of increasing productivity while reducing the environmental impact of crop production.
The ‘Novel Approaches to Crop Protection’ funding competition will open on January 18 2010.
Farming Minister Jim Fitzpatrick welcomed the initiative. He said: “Rising populations, globally and domestically, mean that we need to produce more food.
“But the amount of land available for food production is set to decrease. Also, agriculture and the food sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and there is an urgent global need to reduce these.
“The amount of food we produce needs to increase and the only way this can be achieved, sustainably, is through the development of new technologies.”
The Technology Strategy Board’s chief executive, Iain Gray, said the project could ‘make a real difference’.
“By harnessing the innovative capabilities of UK businesses and researchers, we will not only help to solve this problem for the UK, but also give businesses based here a strong advantage in addressing these same challenges around the world,” he said.
BBSRC director of Innovation and Skills, Dr Celia Caulcott, said: “ In helping to bring the quality of British research to bear on a global problem, we will be doing a service not just to ourselves, but to the rest of the world.”
NFU president Peter Kendall backed the project, which he said ‘meets a real need’.
“Farmers and growers need to produce more and impact less,” he said.
“We need science and technology to deliver solutions and I am sure that forward-looking, innovative farm businesses across the UK will be fully supportive of this important new programme.”
Readers' comments (1)
Sie.Kathieravealu | 14 October 2009 4:03 pm
"Under the programme – the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform – the money will be invested over the next five years to support ‘innovative research and development’.
Research will cover areas like crop productivity, sustainable livestock production, waste reduction and management and greenhouse gas reduction."
It is humbly requested that part of the fund be used for research in the new technique of agriculture being known as "Zero Budget Natural Farming" which does NOT use inorganic fertiliser or pesticides. The overall yield is nearly the same or a little higher.
This system uses only cow urine and dung as fertilizer and pesticide which are naturally available ans so a "sustainable agriculture system"
This system is gaining ground in India and is spreading to Sri Lanka.
This system would help to preserve the climate in a positive way and at the same time help to preserve the health of the individuals and more importantly the health of the soil.
Would those concerned take note of the above facts.
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