During the past few weeks, empty supermarket shelves, without pasta, rice and flour due to panic buying, has caused public concerns about the possibility of running out of food. Australian farmers have reassured consumers saying that the country produces enough food to feed three times its population. However, will this statement remain true in ten to twenty years in a country severely affected by climate change? The answer is yes, if we are prepared for this and if there is continuous funding towards creating solutions to increase crop production.
“Australian plant scientists are punching above their weight by participating in global, interdisciplinary efforts to find ways to increase crop production under future climate change conditions. We essentially need to double the production of major cereals before 2050 to secure food availability for the rapidly growing world population,” says ANU Professor Robert Furbank from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis (CoETP).
“It is similar to finding a virus vaccine to solve a pandemic, it doesn’t happen overnight. We know that Australia’s agriculture is going to be one area of the world that is most affected by climate extremes, so we are preparing to have a toolbox of plant innovations ready to ensure global food security in a decade or so, but to do this we need research funding to continue,” Professor Furbank says.
Read more at: Arc Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis
Professor Robert Furbank, CoETP Director and Professor John Evans, CoETP Chief investigator at the ANU glasshouses in Canberra, Australia (Photo Credit: Natalia Bateman, ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis)