UK in 'race against time' to develop climate resistant crops

Good farming practices and crop diversity are priorities for UK agriculture, a conference heard
Good farming practices and crop diversity are priorities for UK agriculture, a conference heard

The UK is in a 'race against time' to develop crops more resilient and more diverse to climate change.

Scientists, producers and industry experts have said that a more collaborative approach to sharing knowledge and innovation is 'vital' to ensuring the UK’s arable sector remains 'competitive and environmentally sustainable' for the long-term.

They said growers need to work together to take immediate action to drive research which properly addresses the challenges facing arable production.

Professor Martin Wolfe, Principal Scientific Adviser at the Organic Research Centre, said farmers and seed companies need to think quickly about how climate change will impact upon arable farming.

He urged the sector to focus on varieties which are less dependent on inputs which put huge pressure on the environment.

'Climate is changing'

Speaking to delegates at the National Organic Combinable Crops conference on 6 July, Prof Wolfe warned that it can take over a decade from initial crop trials to produce commercial varieties, and during that time temperatures will continue to rise.

“The whole process of developing crops to make sure the individual variety is distinct, uniform and stable so it can be used on a whole area can take as much as 15 years,” he told delegates.

“All the while, the climate is changing.”

Prof Wolfe said that good farming practice and crop diversity were priorities for UK agriculture.

He said that millers and the wider industry needed to help farmers work on research and development into more diverse crops as a matter of urgency.

“Monocultures are tying farmers’ hands behind their backs,” he added. “It’s not allowing farmers to exploit the massive biodiversity potential of their land, and that has to change.”

'Citizen science'

Cambridgeshire organic farmer Stephen Briggs said organic growers could play their part by adopting a ‘citizen science’ approach to help further the sector’s productivity.

While seed companies were running some untreated seed trials, they were usually on too small a scale to provide useful information which could speed up the development of more productive organic crop varieties.

“Small plot trialling is not suitable for organic,” he said. “We need large plots which take land and crop variability into account.

“Seed breeders aren’t going to invest huge sums in developing organic crops, so it’s incumbent on us to help move the process forward.

“If [more organic farmers] did variety trials, we would move things on so much faster,” he added. “Citizen science is the key.”