Southampton, United Kingdom
August 22, 2007
The need for new and underutilised
crops in a rapidly changing world of global warming and
population growth will be discussed at the 5th International
Symposium on New Crops and Uses, hosted by the
University of Southampton
(Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 September).
The event has been organised by the University's Centre for
Underutilised Crops (CUC) in partnership with the National Non
Food Crop Centre and the Tropical Agricultural Association.
The first International Symposium on New Crops was held at the
University of Southampton exactly 20 years ago and as a result
of the recommendations of this meeting, the CUC was established
at the University in 1988.
Participants from 28 countries from across the developing and
developed world will meet to discuss the sustainable use of new
crops in a changing environment for both food and non-food uses.
There has been relatively little scientific or economic interest
in new and underutilised crops over the past 30 years, with most
attention and funding focused on improving the few species on
which the world's population increasingly depends to feed
itself.
However, the situation is now changing rapidly with global
warming's negative impact on the production and productivity of
these major crops, population growth continuing towards its
projected peak of 10 billion and the recognition that
increasingly energy and raw materials must come from renewable
sources.
Dr Colm Bowe, of the University's Centre for Underutilised
Crops, says: In practice, much of the land that is used for
cultivation is not suited for production of the current few
crops on which we depend, and there is a growing awareness of
the need for both diversity and novelty within the agricultural
system. Further, with an estimated 20 per cent of the world's
food, along with many medicinal, energy and industrial
resources, coming from traditional farming sources, the
opportunity exists to build on the sustainable best practices of
these traditional farmers, many of whom are not growing the
major crops.
'It is in this context that new and underutilised crops are at
last - after years of being in the wilderness - coming into
their own. This is, therefore, an ideal time to take stock of
where those scientists, farmers and others who are interested in
new and underutilised crops have got to, how we got here, what
lessons have been learned, what are the pressing and practical
requirements of mankind in the coming years and how can we
respond to that need.'
The conference will be held over five sessions of oral
presentations (36 presentations) and poster presentations (35
posters). The keynote after-dinner talk will be given by
Professor Monique Simmonds, Deputy Keeper and Head of
Sustainable Uses of Plants Group at the Royal Botanical Gardens
Kew.
The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and
research institution with a global reputation for leading-edge
research and scholarship. It is one of the UK's top 10 research
universities, offering first-rate opportunities and facilities
for study and research across a wide range of subjects in
humanities, health, science and engineering. The University has
around 20,000 students and over 5000 staff. Its annual turnover
is in the region of £310 million.
The University is one of the country's top institutions for
engineering, computer science and medicine, and has a strong
enterprise agenda. It is home to a range of world-leading
research centres, including the National Oceanography Centre,
Southampton, the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, the
Optoelectronics Research Centre, the Centre for the
Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, and the Mountbatten
Centre for International Studies. |
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