New climate, new crops?

The role of science, policy and the food chain in identifying opportunities for growing produce in Britain’s future climate.

New Climate, New Crops?
A one-day Conference
18th June 2008
Hilton, Kensington, London

The Defra funded Innovation Network, based at the University of Warwick (Warwick HRI), was founded to promote the adaptation to climate change in agriculture. After a consultation period with an expert panel new crop opportunities were identified as an important adaptation option (primarily as this adapts the crop to the climate). There is currently much activity surrounding non-food crops but relatively little on food crops adapted in Britain’s future climate. This conference seeks to raise the profile of the new food crop opportunities and establish clear paths forward to maximise the sustainable production of quality food from Britain.

The programme

The day is split into two parts:

1. Speakers will discuss, inform and debate the main issues. Confirmed Keynote speakers are:

Climate change: Roger Street (Technical Director, UK Climate Impacts Programme)
Government: Professor Robert Watson (Chief Scientific Adviser, Defra)
The National Farmer’s Union: Peter Kendall (President, NFU)
The Rural Climate Change Forum: John Gilliland (Chair, RCCF)
Retailer: David Gregory (Head of Technology, Food, Marks and Spencer)
Food manufacturer: David Barney (Business Development Manager, Bakkavör)
Plant breeder: Roger Turner (Romadest Associates)
Farming: Hugh Oliver Bellasis (Chairman of Council, Royal Agricultural Society of England)

2. Discussions will enable issues identified to be debated. The discussions will be structured around an Open Space format where topics for discussion are put forward by delegates on the day. We anticipate that discussions might include:

How might climate change affect global food production?
What is the vision for land use in the UK?
What are new food crops?
Will traditional crops need to ‘drift’ into new regions?
What is the role of plant breeding and genetic technologies, such as GM?
What needs to be done in order to develop new crop markets?

Open Space: this part of the day gives delegates the opportunity to put forward topics for discussion on the day (even if you can’t actually attend the event!). These topics then form a series of discussion sessions. Delegates chose which session to attend and have the option to freely move between sessions. Key points from each discussion will be clearly summarised. The outputs from each session will be transcribed for use within post conference publications.

Contact jason.pole@warwick.ac.uk to put forward your clear title for an Open Space topic along with a brief explanation.

Registration

To register fill out the registration form here

Organisers Contact Points

For more information regarding the Conference please visit:
www.go.warwick.ac.uk/newcropsconference

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