Memorandum submitted by the National Institute
of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) (SFS 61)
NIAB's expertise is in plant genetics, plant
breeding and the services, staff and infrastructure required to
deliver improved crop varieties and seeds to farmers. Our submission
therefore focuses on these areas.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The challenge for 21st century agriculture
is to double food production over the next 40 years, on a
finite amount of land and using increasingly scarce and costly
resources. Advances in plant breeding will be the single biggest
factor in meeting this increased demand, and significant opportunities
exist—using both conventional and transgenic approaches—to
boost crop productivity.
2. Exploiting these opportunities, however,
will require a step-change in public sector investment in the
translational research and infrastructure needed to support innovative
plant breeding for public benefit.
3. The UK has progressively cut public sector
investment in applied agricultural research and knowledge transfer
in favour of a market-based approach. But it is clear that the
income from commercial plant breeding—through royalty payments
on seed—is not enough to support a more speculative, long-term
approach to R&D.
4. The pipeline from research has now narrowed
to a precarious level. While our research institutes and universities
remain world-leaders in basic plant science, much of that work
is taking place in model crop species without being transferred
to potentially useful crops.
5. Working in partnership with these plant
science organisations, NIAB has the unique scientific skills and
agricultural expertise to translate advances in basic plant science
into genetic backgrounds and material which will be of use to
commercial plant breeders.
Q1. How well placed is the UK to make the
most of its opportunities in responding to the challenge of increasing
global food production by 50% by 2030 and doubling it by
2050, while ensuring that such production is sustainable?
6. Global demand for food is beginning to
outstrip supply, and with limited land available to bring into
agricultural production, the only viable option to feed a rapidly
increasing world population will be through productivity growth—producing
more output per hectare.
7. Furthermore, climate experts predict
that the world's agricultural production will become increasingly
dependent on temperate regions such as Europe and North America
as climate change affects crop yields and water availability in
sub-tropical regions.
8. The UK in particular benefits from good
quality soils and a favourable climate for consistent, high-yielding
crop production. On the whole, UK farmers are technologically
aware and quick to adopt new innovations.
9. Crop improvement through plant breeding
will be the major contributor to increased crop productivity for
the indefinite future. Interim findings of a recent study by NIAB
suggest that between 1947 and 1982, around half the yield
gain of major UK arable crops such as wheat and barley could be
attributed to plant breeding, shared equally with the contribution
of other factors such as improved agronomy, machinery and inputs.
Since 1982, the contribution of plant breeding to yield gain has
increased to more than 90%.
10. There is scope to deliver continued
incremental improvements in plant breeding, for example through
double haploid production, improved understanding of genotype
x environment interactions, and more routine use of marker-assisted
selection to reduce the breeding cycle time.
11. Advances in our basic knowledge of plant
genetics are also opening up major opportunities for radical,
dimension-changing developments in plant breeding. Improved understanding
of the photosynthetic process, for example, could allow conversion
of C3 crop species such as wheat and rice into more productive
C4 crops such as maize. The development of apomictic crops—allowing
asexual reproduction through seed—would enable desirable
traits to be maintained year after year, with no loss of hybrid
vigour. The introduction of perennial cereal crops would result
in reduced inputs—e.g. no ploughing—and other environmental
benefits.
12. Exploiting these opportunities, however,
requires a fundamental shift in research funding (see response
to Q2, below).
Q2. In particular, what are the challenges
the UK faces in relation to the following aspects of the supply
side of the food system?
The science base
13. There are clear indications that the
annual rate of yield improvement in the major UK arable crops
has slowed in recent decades. For example, the annual increase
in average UK cereal yields has fallen from around 4% in the 1980s
to less than 1% today. This decline in UK agricultural productivity
can be directly linked to a progressive withdrawal, since the
mid-1980s, of public sector investment in applied agricultural
science and technology transfer.
14. The need to reverse this chronic under-spending
in applied UK research for crop improvement was identified in
a major BBSRC review of UK crop science in 2004 led by Professor
Chris Gilligan of Cambridge University. This review confirmed
the strength of the UK's fundamental science-base, but also identified
weaknesses in the translation of basic genetic discoveries into
improved crop varieties of practical relevance and application
for farmers and growers.
15. Professor Gilligan's review highlighted
an urgent need to strengthen the delivery pipeline to take the
findings of underpinning research—mostly conducted in model
crop species—through to practical application by plant breeders.
16. Measures put in place since Professor
Gilligan's review—including support for the establishment
of Crop Genetic Improvement Networks, and projects supported under
the BBSRC's £13 million Crop Science Initiative—have
helped strengthen links between public research and commercial
plant breeding sectors. In addition, there is increased recognition
in funding priorities for public sector research of the need to
validate and transfer gene discovery to practical application.
However, lack of public sector support for essential translation
activities—particularly pre-breeding—remains a major
block to the delivery of step-change innovation in the main UK
arable crops.
17. The fixed nature of plant breeders'
income through seed royalties seriously limits investment in more
speculative or long-term approaches to breeding and trait selection—and
so prevents the practical application of major advances taking
place in gene discovery.
18. Total royalty income to UK plant breeders
across all crops is in the order of £30 million per
year, of which perhaps 2% (£600,000 p.a.) might be available
for speculative research. In the context of commercial plant breeding,
it is clear that a market-based approach to funding near-market
or applied agricultural research is not working because the market
is simply not big enough.
19. The widening gap between our basic understanding
of plant genetics and our ability to apply that knowledge in practice
presents a compelling case for public sector funding to bridge
the gap.
20. As a demonstration of what can be done,
NIAB through its strategic alliance with the John Innes Centre
and in partnership with other research institutes (Rothamsted,
IBERS) and Universities—is re-connecting the R&D pipeline
by providing a dedicated pre-breeding platform capable of translating
basic genetic discoveries into materials suitable for use in commercial
wheat breeding programmes.
21. This innovative programme will provide
a delivery mechanism allowing novel traits and associated marker
technologies to flow from publicly funded research through to
exploitation in commercial breeding. Trait genes and markers will
be validated and assessed in pre-competitive germplasm, adapted
to UK conditions, and made available for use by commercial breeders
and other research organisations.
22. NIAB has already made significant progress
towards that goal, with a £1.25 million investment in
laboratory facilities, equipment and growth rooms at its Cambridge
site. Over the past two years, a team of more than 30 highly-skilled
scientific staff, including three plant breeders, has been recruited.
23. The building blocks are in place, and
already NIAB has secured a number of short-term research contracts—both
independently and with other research partners—which serve
to illustrate the pre-breeding skills and capability on offer.
But plant breeding is a long-term process—the challenge
now is to establish a secure funding base which will safeguard
the future of the centre and the team behind it as a vital resource
in support of plant breeding for the public benefit, focused on
the following strategic objectives:
— Low-input farming and climate-proofing
traits.
— Improved human and animal nutrition.
— Durable disease and pest resistance.
— Plant-derived industrial products.
The provision of training
24. There are widespread concerns within
the agricultural research sector over the lack of new blood coming
through to succeed a generation of applied agricultural scientists
now reaching retirement. There is a strong view that researcher
career paths—and project funding priorities—have in
recent decades been driven and rewarded more by scientific publications
than by practical research impact.
25. As a training organisation, NIAB provides
a range of courses across virtually all aspects of crop production—from
seed sampling, testing and inspection through to the latest methods
in plant breeding and quantitative genetics. The practical focus
of NIAB's role as a training organisation is now virtually unique
among UK plant research institutes, yet the need to strengthen
links between research and productive agriculture is viewed as
essential to meet future policy objectives.
26. The establishment of a pre-breeding
initiative presents a significant opportunity to provide genuine
career opportunities for applied plant scientists motivated less
by "high science" publications than by delivering practical
impact and innovation on the ground.
Q3. What role should Defra play both in ensuring
that the strengths of the UK food system are maintained and in
addressing the weaknesses that have been identified? What leadership
and assistance should Defra provide to the food industry?
27. Today, Governments around the world
are introducing new laws and financial support to address and
mitigate the effects of severe economic conditions.
28. Tomorrow's crises will be in food, energy
and water supplies. Given the right signals and the necessary
support, the UK science base is well-placed to respond, but the
UK Government must act now to invest in crop science, plant breeding
and knowledge transfer.
29. There appears to be increased recognition
within Defra of the importance of food security, and the role
of productive agriculture in addressing future food needs. The
recent establishment of a Council of Food Policy Advisors is a
welcome development, and the Secretary of State's recent speech
to the Oxford Farming Conference highlighted the importance of
maximising UK-based food production, and the vital role of science—and
plant breeding in particular—in meeting that objective.
These words must now be backed up by positive action.
January 2009
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