The UK Plant Sciences group (which includes Syngenta!), a
special arm of the Society of Biology, has recently released a report outlining
the key challenges facing plant science research in the immediate future.
Worryingly, the report has also identified a significant shortfall between the
need for targeted research to address these concerns and the availability of
trained professionals to carry out the work. Although neatly categorised into
four points, these challenges are formidable obstacles:
1.
Food security: maintaining
sufficient production to feed a growing population, whilst accommodating
changing diets (especially in rapidly developing countries) and climate change.
2.
Producing healthier foods
containing higher levels of natural nutrients (e.g. Beneforte Broccoli) or
novel health benefits (e.g. the purple tomato – see previous posts).
3.
Environmental
sustainability: developing crops and systems that use resources (e.g. water,
fertilisers) more efficiently whilst conserving natural ecosystem biodiversity.
4.
Developing a “Green Fuel
Economy”, including the development of sustainable sources of biodiesel.
The report does acknowledge that
much progress could be made without groundbreaking new insights. In developing
countries, for instance, much food is lost after harvest through pests,
inappropriate storage and disease. Furthermore, the report highlights the
importance of conserving genetic diversity by cataloguing and “seed banking”
wild relatives of commercial crops. This is imperative if we are to maintain a
resource of genes conferring resistance to pests, extreme climate conditions
and disease. New approaches to traditional practices may also be necessary; the
recent wet summers and winter flooding have been disastrous for UK wheat and
potato harvests – perhaps it is time to consider different crops? Meanwhile,
improving agricultural systems should be combined with other measures as part
of a holistic approach; these include developing infrastructure to deliver
crops to market and investing in family planning education to help slow the
rate of population growth.
Nevertheless, breakthroughs in
key areas of research could have a significant impact. Developing crops that
can associate with nitrogen-fixing Rhizobia bacteria, for instance, could reduce the need for nitrogen
fertilisers. Approximately 50% of fossil fuels consumed by agriculture are
spent on producing nitrogen fertilisers, which also cause the emission of the
greenhouse gas nitrous oxide through natural soil denitrification processes.
Hence, it is high time we ended our reliance on these chemical inputs. This
would require a significant investment in pioneering research however, with the
risk of eventual failure. Similarly, developing a method to extract biodiesel
from algae would be a huge advance towards achieving energy sustainability but this
is also only in the early stages of research.
It is clear that the UK is a
“centre of excellence” for plant science research with the United States being
the only country to have a greater impact value for plant science publications.
The John Innes Research Centre alone generates £30.4 million each year
for the UK economy. However, there is the sense that agricultural progress has
stagnated somewhat in our country.
Apparently, UK agricultural output has not increased since 1986 and in
the meantime we are increasingly relying on imports. Meanwhile, 96% of the
organisations and research institutions questioned by the UK Plant Sciences
group had identified a “skills gap” for trained plant scientists.
Interestingly, there was particular concern about a lack of trained plant
taxonomists – perhaps taxonomy isn’t a “dying science” after all? The current
workforce seems to be accelerating towards retirement – apparently 62% of plant
health specialists are over 50 years old! With this desperate need for plant
scientists, why are so few students taking it up as a career? Especially if
biology is “the most popular A Level”?
The report identified several
reasons:
1.
Poor awareness about the
careers available to plant scientists
2.
Reduced availability of
plant science related degree courses and poor coverage of the plant sciences
within standard biology degrees
3.
Sparse representation of
plant sciences at GSCE and A Level
4.
Few available teaching
staff/lecturers at Universities; because of the costly infrastructure often
required for plant science research (e.g. controlled environment chambers!),
many trained researchers are based at specialist research institutions, such as
the John Innes Centre, which don’t provide regular teaching to new students.
For myself, the Gatsby Plants summer school was instrumental
in shaping my desire to become a plant science researcher. This was a week long
residential course which immersed me in a series of lectures, discussions and
practicals with world-leading plant scientists. The location in the beautiful
grounds of the Emergency Planning College in York may also have helped!
However, this was only possible through the generous funding of the charitable
arm of the Sainsburys Trust. So what did the report suggest could be done to
encourage greater interest in the humble plants?
1.
Involve plant scientists in
the development of GCSE and A Level courses to make sure they reflect the
latest cutting edge developments in plant science
2.
Provide training
opportunities for GCSE and A Level teachers to allow them to increase their
knowledge of plant science
3.
Increased opportunities for
training schemes, industrial placements and apprenticeships at plant science employer
institutions
4.
More public-private
partnerships to translate plant science into practical research applications (I
think this is the part of research that most interests the public – the “wow” factor,
if you like: how does your research actually HELP people?)
5.
And of course…. More funding!!
It’s all very well KNOWING the
challenges and what we can do about them…. But doing them is another matter. As
for me, I hope I can do my small part through this blog, by encouraging
interest in the plant sciences. Thank you for reading!
The full report can be read here:
