Abstract

854 million people across the planet are currently facing food shortages and malnutrition; amid spiralling food prices and an expanding world population, this figure can only rise unless we can increase crop yields to match the growing demand. However, productivity gains following the Green Revolution are now levelling out and concern is growing about the role of intensive farming methods in accelerating climate change. Can we look again to technological innovation to raise agricultural outputs, or have we reached the limits of production?

CUChS hosts an interactive panel debate on the role of science in solving the world food crisis, with speakers including:

Caroline Hurford, London spokesperson for the World Food Programme; Dr Malcolm Hawkesford, senior researcher into crop nutrition at the Rothamsted Agricultural Research Centre; Dr Peter Craufurd, from the School of Agriculture Policy and Development at Reading University; Dr Howard Griffiths, member of the Cambridge University Plant Sciences department and the Cambridge Environmental Initiative.

Join us at 19:30pm at the Pharmacology Lecture theatre for an evening of lively debate and impassioned discussion.