presentation to the norfolk farming conference

Sustainable Development for the emerging world + Sustainable Recovery for UK plc

unlocking the potential of UK Agricultural R+D

Norfolk Farming ConferenceFebruary 2012

George Freeman MP Member of Parliament for Mid Norfolk

Chairman of the APPG on Science & Technology in AgricultureGovernment Advisor on Life Sciences

George Freeman MP. Presentation to Norfolk Farming Conference. Feb 2012.

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Contents

• The challenge• The opportunity– UK Life Sciences– UK Agricultural Science and Technology– Norfolk & the NRP

• Government• Next Steps• The Prize


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The Challenge• Sustainable Recovery for UK plc • Sustainable Development for the emerging world• Foresight Report: The Future of Food and Farming• Global population size will increase from nearly 7bn today to 8bn by 2030, and c 9bn by

2050.• A generational challenge: we will need to produce twice as much food with half as much

land, energy, water and labour.• “Sustainable intensification”• Increasing yield to meet rising demand will be difficult, and requires major investment. Expect

50% from genetic improvement, and 50% from improved agronomy.

Key challenges:A. Balancing future demand and supply sustainablyB. Ensuring that there is adequate stability in food suppliesC. Achieving global access to food and ending hunger. D. Managing the contribution of the food system to the mitigation of

climate change.E. Maintaining biodiversity and ecosystems while feeding the world.


Sourced from: Bill Gates’ Annual Letter,

Professor Gordon Conway 4,

Increasing Biofuel Demand


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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation• “Farming is a great example of something critical to the poor that gets

very little attention in rich countries.” • 2012 focus on innovation in Agriculture• Devoted almost $2 billion to helping poor farm families• Preliminary studies show that the rise in global temperature alone could

reduce the productivity of the main crops by over 25 percent.• In total, only $3 billion per year is spent on researching the seven most

important cropsCase Study: In India rice farmers are switching to a new rice seed called Swarna-Sub1, which can survive in flooded fields. Their rice fields get flooded every three to four years, and in past flood years they ended up with almost no food to eat. Currently, 4 million tons of rice are lost to flooding every year in Bangladesh and India. But as farmers in the region adopt Swarna-Sub1, they will grow enough extra rice to feed 30 million people.

Case Study: Working with the UK’s BBSRC, DfID and the Indian Government on a range of sustainable crop research projects


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The opportunity: UK Life Sciences• 4 major global markets: Chemicals. Energy. Food.

Medicine. • Growth! (China 8%, India 7%, Brazil, Russia 6%,

Africa 5%)• 3 Life Sciences:

• Agriculture. • Cleantech. • Biomedicine.

• Huge UK export and growth potential • Linkages and Convergence:

• Agriculture and Climate Change • Nutrition and Health• Environment and Health

• UK has highly sophisticated Venture Finance markets• Fast growth businesses creating the sustainable jobs

of tomorrow• Food represents a significant part of the UK

economy

• UK has world class strengths in basic science and research and is Number 1 in the world for bioscience– 3% of world’s researchers. 6% of Papers. 11%

of citations. 14% of most cited.– 2 Unis in top 5. 12 Unis in top 100. 32 in top

200. – Biomedicine:

• Cambridge / London / Oxford– Plant science:

• Norwich / Cambridge / Reading / London/Liverpool/Nottingham/ Rothamsted /Aberystwyth

– Cleantech: • Norwich / Cambridge / London / Bristol /

South West• Clusters of innovation in a rebalanced economy.

• Norwich / Cambridge / Oxford: A11/A14 innovation corridor


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The opportunity: UK agri science• Centres of Excellence

• Norwich• Cambridge• Reading• Aberystwyth • London• Liverpool• Nottingham• Rothamsted Research• Scotland

• A range of tools– Basic Plant science – Conventional breeding– Wide range of technologies including GM

• Not just yield / productivity benefit– Nutrition / “Nutriceuticals”– Environmental

• Huge global potential:– Prof Howard Atkinson, Leeds

• GM nematode-resistant bananas

– Prof Jonathan Jones, Norwich• Blight resistant Potato

– Prof Graham Moore, Norwich• £7 million grant to a consortium of researchers to increase the

diversity of traits available in wheat via a comprehensive pre-breeding programme-

But....• Historic under-investment from some parts of

Government/industry• <10% of all UK Sci R+D

• Previously fragmented• Lack of research strategy• Lack of industry partnership

NOWBBSRC running £400M+ Global Food Security programme to coordinate agri science research across Govt Depts, Agencies and the Research Councils, supported by capital investment e.g. £26M into NRP

BBSRC has also launched ‘industry clubs’ e.g. Crop Improvement Research Club with companies including Syngenta and Velcourt as well as 4 Advanced Training Partnerships between users and providers of high–level skills in the agri–food sector

Others need to follow this lead


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GM: a technology in demand• Global food demand set to inc by 70% 2006 to 2050.• Benefits

– Yield. GM crops have been shown to increase yields by 6%-30% on the same land area.

– Environment. (Water, Carbon, Pesticides, Cultivation). GM crops have reduced pesticide use by 350mKg.

– Development. 90% of GM crops grown by smallest, poorest farmers

• 29 countries growing GM crops e.g. 98% of soya exported from South America is now GM

• 10% of global ag land in GM production (15m farmers)• 48% of crops in developing countries GM. (Will exceed developed

countries in 2015) • Global area of biotech crops reached 160m HA in 2011 (up 12mHA on

2010)• Global value of biotech seed $13.2bn in 2011• The global market for agri biotechnology is valued at £90bn and is

growing at 10-15% pa.• % of UK public concerned about GM has declined from 43% in 2001 to

22% in 2011. • Main UK public food concerns:

– Cost (61% of respondents)– Salt (51%) – Key other: (30-50%)

Fat/sugar/waste/hygiene/labelling/additives) – GM mentioned by 22%

• >2trillion meals containing GM ingredients have been eaten over last 15 years without one health incident identified.

But.....

• Europe currently grows just 2 GM crops commercially.• EU anti-innovation‘Precautionary Principle’• As of March 2011, only 2 GM crops had been approved

for cultivation in Europe – maize and potato. • Several member states have issued bans on cultivation of

these crops. • BASF relocated R+D HQ from Europe to USA• It takes on average almost 4 years for a GM import

approval to be completed in Europe. (Twice as long as comparable jurisdictions). Cost for applicant c E7-15million / crop.

• Agricultural Productivity impact: next 10 years– EU: 4%– USA: 15-20%– Brazil: 40%

Source:Reuters

ISAAA Food Standards Agency, 2011

EuropaBio :guide to GM crops and policies


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The Opportunity: Norfolk and Norwich

• Norwich Research Park

– Major employer – 11,600 staff, 3,000 scientists, 14,200 students

– £100m research fund, £46m/year invested by the BBSRC

– 6 world class institutions within 1km radius, with global reputation.

– 4th in the UK for number of “most highly cited scientists” by sector (after London and Oxbridge)

Case Study: Prof Jonathan Jones, Sainsbury Laboratory

• Studies basic mechanisms of plant disease and resistance since 1988

• A centre of excellence for late blight research, which costs farmers up to £4bn a year worldwide

• Conducting research since 2010 into GM blight-resistant potatoes

• Testing whether resistance genes from wild potatoes enable plants to recognize whenthey are under attack.

• Resistance genes then activate the plant’s natural defence mechanisms.

Source: Prof. Jonathan Jones of the Sainsbury Laboratory


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The Opportunity: Norfolk and Norwich

Institute ofFood Research

University ofEast Anglia

Norfolk and NorwichUniversity Hospital

John InnesCentre

Sainsburylaboratory

The GenomeAnalysis Centre

Norwich Science Partnership - world class “sustainability” cluster in environment, food, health


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4 Norfolk Case StudiesAgricultural Tech:MutMapDeveloped with Japanese scientists in the Sainsbury Laboratory at the John Innes Centre

A new technique to identify and isolate traits in rice such as salt tolerance.

Could cut time to produce commercial rice varieties by 3Xfold or better.

Can soon be applied to other crops

Biomedicine: Anglia DNABased at the Norwich Research Park

Offers a range of paternity testing services for the commercial and retail markets

Feb 2011: Launch of AssureDNA, the UK's first off the shelf paternity testing kit, now available in Boots stores nationwide

Expected turnover from October 2011 to September 2012 of £2m

Launching a new drug and alcohol testing service in early 2012

Clean Energy: WindcropBased in Norwich

Installs and maintains small-scale wind turbines

Provides landowners with access to 'green' electricity- cutting costs and carbon emissions

Founded in 2009 by John Moore, former Lotus Engineering commercial director

Currently has 110 operational sites, and by the end of the first quarter of 2012 will be installing at a rate of 50 a month

New varieties: Beneforté Broccoli Developed by British scientists at the Institute of Food Research and the John Innes Centre

Bred to have two to three times the level of the phytonutrient glucoraphanin than standard broccoli

Great for diet and health

On sale in Marks and Spencer in the UK and throughout the USA.

http://www.ifr.ac.uk/


Government support?• Coalition protection for the Science Budget:

£4.6bn /annum til 2015. (Capital down: – £514m in 2011/12– £449m in 2012/13– £416m in 2013/14– £447m in 2014/15

• Breakdown of spend: • £2.75billion to Research Councils / Space

Agency• £1.6bn direct to Universities for R+D• £150m through HE Innovation funding to Uni’s• £100m to Learned Societies.

• Chancellor added an extra £470m on science (£200m in Autumn statement)– £70m for NRP (26M) and Babraham (44M) £m for

Translational Research Fellowships

• Global Food Security programme - £400M/year• Technology Innovation Centres (Catapult)

– Cell therapy - Regenerative Medicine – ((2012: Agricultural + Plant Science?))

• Life Sciences Strategy 2011• Agricultural Science 2012

– All Party Group on Ag Sci: Food Chain– DEFRA / BIS Ag innovation – BBSRC has a strategic interest in food security,

Bioenergy, industrial biotechnology and genomics– DfiD: Ag Sci as UK export for ‘Trade not Aid’

• Export drive via UKTI• DfiD

– The Foresight Global Food and Farming report 2011 sees significant role for GM and UK AgSci in global development

– DFID – R+D funding across ALL disciplines (of which Ag is about one quarter, and a small proportion is using GM)

• 2011: £230m • 2015: potentially £410m

– Collaborations (Gates Foundation, CGIAR, BBSRC, Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa...100 varieties of drought resistant maize in Africa)

– Challenge: industry links and translation.

• Europe– CAP Reform– Science based Agricultural Innovation Framework


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Next Steps

• Political support and leadership for UK Agricultural R+D and Innovation.– Agriculture as a strategic priority– Science / evidence based policy on GM + associated technologies– Public opinion – Skills

• Europe– Regulation– CAP reform

• Support for inward investment / global exports– A Technology Innovation Centre for UK Ag / Plant Science – DfiD – Strategic collaborations with developing (Commonwealth?) nations.


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The Prize.....

• A sustainable economic recovery for UK plc• A global role • Supporting the sustainable development of the

nations (markets + allies) of tomorrow

The county that gave Britain its first Prime Minister, the seeds of the Agricultural

Revolution and its greatest military hero has a key role again.

presentation to the norfolk farming conference

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