Our July meeting had an interesting talk by Professor Mark Chapman entitled New Crops to Feed a Warmer World. 

Prof Mark Chapman, Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Southampton, Mark has a special interest in novel and under-utilised crops for future agriculture and food security.

 

The world relies on relatively few “core“ crops, for example wheat and rice. Climate change risks reducing both the volumes that can be grown and their nutritional value. Mark is  interested in understanding how crops adapt to hot and dry environments and  how different crops might  be utilised to build resilience into the UK food system.  While this all sounds rather technical it was nevertheless an interesting talk evoking many questions during the Q & A session.

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Basically Mark's research is looking at two crops with high nutrition that are seen as staples in some areas of the world but  will the grow here. The crops are Lablab and Lupin seeds. This is no simple task since even if they will thrive in our evolving climate there is a massive challenge to introduce people to these new products.

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