From the Society of Biology’s Science Policy weekly news update:

Key results

• The unsmoothed farmland bird population index for England, covering 19 species, decreased by 5 per cent between 2008 and 2009. The index is now at its lowest recorded value, at 53 per cent lower than its 1966 starting value.
• Twelve species (almost two-thirds of those included in the index) declined between 2008 and 2009 – Kestrel, Lapwing, Grey Partridge, Skylark, Starling, Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Yellow Wagtail, Linnet, Wood Pigeon, Corn Bunting and Rook. This decline was significant for the first six species listed. For many species, the decline between 2008 and 2009 is a continuation of downward trends evident over at least the last four or five years.
• Seven species increased between 2008 and 2009 – Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove, Turtle Dove, Whitethroat and Yellowhammer. Most of these, for example Goldfinch and Jackdaw, have shown long-term upward trends.

Bird populations are considered to be a good indicator of the broad state of wildlife because birds occupy a wide range of habitats, they tend to be near or at the top of food chains and there is considerable long-term data on changes in bird populations which helps with the interpretation of shorter term fluctuations.

Further information.

Researchers in Switzerland have successfully inoculated rice with selectively bred mychorrhizal fungi which helps the plant grow faster in the acidic soils of tropical regions. Such fungi are known to help plants by extracting nutrients – in this case phosphate – from the surrounding soil, receiving sugars in return.

To date studies have only been conducted in temperate climates, but greenhouses were used to recreate conditions in the tropics where phosphate fertiliser gets bound to the soil. Ian Sanders, a biologist at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, said that harnessing this method could become increasingly important if predicted shortages in global soil phosphate ring true.

Sanders is also collaborating with researchers from the National University of Colombia on field trials of economically important crops such as potato and cassava. Early results are promising; the same amount of potato can be grown with less than a third of the phosphate fertiliser normally applied.

Whether or not the technique used for rice will be viable in the field remains under question. Roland Buresh, a principal scientist at the International Rice Research Institute specialising in nutrient management, highlighted that the fungi require oxygen for growth, hence might not perform so well in submerged soils. The technique, he continued, is not expected to allow more rice to be grown in a year.

Original article: Scientists harness ‘good’ fungi to boost staple crops by Mićo Tatalović

The Commission for Rural Communities is to propose today that upland farmers should recieve payments for the services their land provides.

Speaking on the Today programme, Dr Stuart Burgess emphasised the importance of upland regions, which are “[just] as important as lowland communities.” Uplands, he continued, provide 70% of the UK’s drinking water, store 200 million tonnes of carbon in peatlands, and are a source of enjoyment for the 40 million annual visitors to National Parks.

Dr Burgess conceded that such a scheme may eventually bring additional costs to the Government, but stressed that other streams of income may be available should be value of uplands be recognised. Possible source include the growing carbon market, or through the revision of the Common Agricultural Policy.

The full interview with Dr Burgess can be heard here.

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference yesterday the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington, made clear the Government’s view that using the latest advances in science, such as GM and nanotechnology, is vital to make sure that the world can produce enough to feed a growing population by 2030. The world will need to produce 50% more food in the next twenty years. Prof. Beddington said that more crops will need to be produced on less land, and that GM offers a way to achieve this.

Speaking to farmers at the conference Prof. Beddington said “we need a greener revolution, improving production and efficiency through the food chain within environmental and other constraints”. He stated that action to improve crop yields is necessary now, due to time lags in developing and implementing new technologies, and that GM is critical in meeting economic, environmental and social goals.

Prof. Beddington’s speech attracted criticism from some, including in the Guardian’s editorial yesterday. The Guardian calls for Ministers to themselves be more explicit about the Government’s belief that GM is vital to ensure food security, communicating this directly to the public rather than relying on the Government CSA to make such speeches. The newspaper also questioned whether the evidence base really does support GM technology as ‘vital’ to food security, as outlined by Prof. Beddington, alluding to the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAAST), led by Professor Bob Watson, Defra’s Chief Scientist. The report found that GM technology was unlikely to have more than a limited role in tackling hunger and that global hunger is as much to do with power and control over food supply as with growing enough to eat.

See more: Daily Telegraph, 7 January 2010

New research conducted under the EU-funded ALARM project (Assessing LArge scale environmental Risks for biodiversity with tested Methods) has identified land-use practices and agrochemical use as the main pressures causing a decline in pollinating insects, including bees, in Europe. It is estimated that 84% of European crop species depend on insect pollination to some extent.

The researchers analysed links between agriculture and pollinators using the ‘Driving forces – Pressures – State – Impact – Response’ (DPSIR) framework. They identified five major pressures on pollinators: land-use; agrochemicals; parasites/ diseases; competition between species (caused by humans) and climate change. Bees were the most affected by all of these pressures, apart from climate change, which had the greatest impact on butterflies.

EU land-use practices are driven most strongly by the CAP. Although environmental policies have recently become more integrated into the CAP, Agri-environment measures form only 8% of the total CAP budget to 2013; despite the influence of these schemes in supporting specific farming practices which protect the environment and maintain the countryside.

To boost pollinator numbers, the researchers call for an increase in the funding provided for agri-environment schemes under the CAP, for an increase in the areas of flower-rich natural grassland and croplands with leguminous plants and for a decrease in the use of agrochemicals, all of which would foster a greater diversity of organisms and landscapes, necessary for bee survival.

Orginal article: Science for Environment Policy

Original research: Kuldna, P., Peterson, K. Poltimäe, H. & Luig, J. (2009). An application of DPSIR framework to identify issues of pollinator loss. Ecological Economics. 69:32-42.

The BES ran an event at the British Science Festival in 2009, focused on bumblebees and the importance of providing a haven for pollinators in your garden. Find out more and see some of the press coverage we generated.

An interesting piece in the New York Times (October 26th) explores whether ‘biotech foods can explore the world’. Six experts, from economics, agriculture and policy, deliver their views on whether GM provides an answer to projected food shortages. The United Nations estimates that the number of people hungry worldwide could surpass 1 billion this year. Can GM help to feed a growing population, in the context of climate change and environmental degradation?

Professor Paul Collier, University of Oxford and author of “The Bottom Billion”, believes that climate change has made the use of GM technology inevitable. Describing GM as akin to ‘nuclear power; nobody loves it’, Prof. Collier states that GM offers both faster crop adaptation and a ‘biological, rather than chemical’ approach to increasing yields. Professor Collier delivered the BES Lecture at this year’s BES Annual Meeting (September, University of Hertfordshire).

Vandana Shiva, founder of Navdanya, an NGO and movement of 500,000 seed keepers and organic farmers in India, argues that climate resilient traits don’t have to come from genetic engineering, citing artificial selection practised by farmers for centuries as a means of creating these attributes. Describing seed banks, such as those maintained by Navdanya, as ‘biological capital for the green revolution’, Vandana Shiva states that society must create an ecological approach to boosting production and conserving resources, working with smallholder farmers.

Per Pinstrup-Anderson, Cornell University, sees science as playing a key role in helping farmers to grow more food, without damaging natural resources: “Science must be put to work to develop drought tolerance and pest resistance in crops, higher nutrient quality of staple foods, reduced animal diseases, mitigation of negative climate change effects and a host of other solutions to the current food losses and risks facing farmers and consumers in developing countries.” He sees GM technology, used appropriately, as part of this science-led solution.

Raj Patel, a fellow of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, believes that GM crops may not necessarily be the answer, citing a report prepared by a task-force led by Professor Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor at Defra and previously Chief Scientist at the World Bank. “Agriculture at a Crossroads”, produced by 400 experts between 2005-2008, expressed concern that GM had failed to show promise and stressed that to feed the world, political and technological change are necessary. ‘Agroecology’ is one of the farming techniques endorsed by the report – building soil, insect and plant ecology. Mr Patel expresses disappointment that agroecology has not been endorsed by Governments, suggesting this may be because it is not lucrative for big business.

Finally, Jonathan Foley, University of Minnesota, expresses his view that the careful use of GM crops may be appropriate. How can civilisation double food production in the next 40 years, given continued population growth, increasing meat consumption and pressure from biofuels? We need to reduce the environmental impact of our farming methods, which have caused widespread damage to soils, ecosystems, watersheds and the atmosphere. Jonathan Foley suggests that society needs to find a ‘third way’, borrowing from ‘organic and local’ and ‘globalised and industrialised’ systems. A new ‘hybrid solution’ which boosts productivity, conserves resources and builds a more scalable and sustainable agriculture is necessary. Incorporating GM crops which use less water and require less fertiliser could be a part of this.

Original article: New York Times, 26 October 2009

Summary from: SciDev.net, 2 November 2009

After quite a few years in the background after talk of ‘Frankenstein foods’ and the suchlike, genetically-modified (GM) crops appear to be re-emerging onto the political agenda. Professor John Beddington, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, has said that the only way the world will produce the 50 per cent more food required to feed the growing population by 2030 is to grow more crops on less land by using the latest scientific innovation, and that GM will have to be a part of the solution. “This is such a problem that you cannot say we will not use GM technology – that would be really unwise,” he said at a global food summit organised by CABI, an environmental research centre.

His comments come as a new Royal Society report, entitled ‘Reaping the Benefits: Towards a Sustainable Intensification of Global Agriculture’, also recommends GM crops to tackle the impending food crisis. Furthermore, the first trial in a year was recently re-started in Leeds, with the Government’s support, and a recent report on food security from the Defra backed further research into the technology.

It thus seems likely that public debate over GM in the UK may soon be restarted.

The Government today launched a consultation on what a secure food system in the UK should look like by 2030. After last year’s sudden jump in food and oil prices, as well as growing appreciation of the future impacts of climate change, food security has rocketed back onto the political agenda.

Interestingly, and perhaps not widely appreciated, is that the UK currently has a very good level of food security: we produce 60-65% of our own food, and import a further 20% from Europe. Britain is thus more food secure today than it was in the 1930s or 1950s.

Nevertheless, the Government argues that forward-planning is essential as the world will have another 3 billion people to feed by 2050, so preparations need to be made to produce more using less water and less oil. Livestock production in particular is a major source of global emissions, producing more emissions than the world transport sector.

As well as launching the consultation process, Defra has also published a scorecard-style assessment of the current state of the UK’s food supply. This food security assessment focuses on six areas, including global availability, UK food chain resilience and household food security, assessing the current situation and the likely situation in 5-10 years time. Whilst global fish stocks were assessed as “very unfavourable”, with little sign of improvement, areas such as the diversity of the UK’s suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetables was deemed “favourable” and set to improve even more.

For further details on the consultation, please click here.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee has today published a report examining the UK contribution to ensuring food security globally to 2050. “Securing food supplies up to 2050: the challenges for the UK” urges Defra to take the lead, building capacity in food and farming industries so that they can respond to market signals in a way that will reduce the risk of food shortages.

The Committee consider that the UK has a moral obligation to contribute to the global challenge of securing food supplies. Commenting on the report, Michael Jack MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “The UK can play a leading role both in Europe and globally in making sure that our farmers and food industry can contribute effectively towards meeting the challenge of a world that will need to double its food output by 2050 whilst coping with the pressures of climate change as well as global plant and animal diseases. Every region of the UK has a contribution to make.”

An increase in food production must take place in the context of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conserving soil and water and reducing reliance on fossil fuels, recognise the Committee. Consumer engagement is also vital.

The report does not advocate food self-sufficiency for the UK, highlighting instead the importance of strong trading relationships. The report also highlights the dangers posed by ‘land-grabbing’ – rich countries buying up land in poorer regions to grow crops for their own population.

The Committee call for an increase in support for public sector food and farming research, urging Defra to safeguard the UK’s world-class agricultural research base with additional investment of £100 million.

The Observer yesterday reported that the UK Government is set to increase support for the development of GM crops in sub-Sarahan Africa to the tune of £100m. In a new White Paper, the Government proposes to spend £80m on the development of biofortified crops (containing additional vitamins), £60m on researching drought-resistant crops for Africa and £24m on the development of pest-resistance.