Comments? July 2022 19 Food security rests on the growth of farming indoors This article first appeared in The Times Thunderer column on 10th October By Professor Derek Stewart, Director, Advanced Plant Growth Centre, the James Hutton Institute As a crop scientist with over 30 years’ experience in the research and also industry sectors, I’ve never been more worried about the security of our food supply than I am currently. The past 12 months has been a period of accelerated and disruptive change with Brexit leading to reduction in both imports and exports, 25% and 18% respectively on pre-Covid 2019 levels. Allied to this, fertiliser prices have soared due to surging input costs and we’ve experienced supply disruptions due to sanctions on Belarus and Russia. The war in Ukraine has also impacted fears around supplies of food staples and, as a final denouement, this summer, Europe and the UK have been hit with a prolonged heatwave that has had a severe impact on our food production and security. This has all contributed to a rise in the cost of food (as well as how we actually cook it) and I fear we are reaching an impasse on how we feed people. Food security in the UK is at an alltime low: indeed. In 2021 the UK Government identified the UK produces less than 60% of its domestic food consumption by economic value. We cannot keep on producing food in the same way as we always have and expecting different results. It is increasingly evident that we need significantly more productive systems for food production and that these systems need to be more sustainable and at the very least, environmentally safe. Climate change is not going away and we are simply not doing enough to decelerate its progression. In terms of food production though, for crops at least, there are some bright spots on the horizon. At the Advanced Plant Growth Centre (APGC), we have explored the science and are now realising the potential and impact of growing crops such as vegetables and fruit, indoors. This type of farming, known as total controlled environment agriculture (TCEA), offers up the chance to grow tasty food which could also be nutritionally enhanced all year round, thanks to specially controlled lighting and greatly reduced water and fertiliser requirements. If we adopt TCEA powered by renewable energy, best exemplified in vertical farming, we can increase the reliability of food supply with a significantly reduced greenhouse gas emission footprint compared other like-for-like food production systems. We now have the tools and technology within our grasp to transform the production of crop-based food. Also, the uplift in renewable energy, particularly in Scotland which has around 96% renewable electricity, means we can make a significant and sustainable impact on our reliance on imported vegetables and fresh produce, which was valued at £2.5Bn in 2020 in the UK, and could positively impact food security. The adoption of new technology represents change and is not always universally welcomed: we hear and acknowledge this, but with the hard evidence being generated on the potential of vertical farming, we need to pull together the food and energy sectors, invest in this new type of farming and lead the way globally in terms of sustainable food production. Two species of fungi new to the UK have been discovered in Scotland’s Cairngormmountains by a team of volunteers working with the James Hutton Institute and Plantlife, the international wild plant conservation charity. Amanita groenlandica is an arctic species originally described from Greenland and circumpolar in its distribution, with Scandinavia its previously recorded most southerly location. Acrodontium antarcticum is a fungus originally described from Antarctica. These rare fungi, previously found poles apart, both favour the unique cold habitat and climate of Scotland’s Cairngorms. This internationally important landscape which, due to its elevation and distance from the sea, experiences an exceptionally cold and snowy climate, supports the best examples of arctic-alpine vegetation found anywhere in the UK. 219 soil samples were collected by the hillwalking community at various altitudes from 55 of the 58 Munros of Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park last summer, and DNA was extracted from the soil and sequenced by scientists at the Institute, resulting in over 17000 records of 2748 fungal species in just three months. This unique collaboration of mountain enthusiasts, cuttingedge science and expert insight from Plantlife demonstrates the pressures from climate change and atmospheric pollution on this fast-changing habitat. The research team’s knowledge of the close connection between plants and fungi means that the data collected can be used to prioritise habitats for conservation and restoration and provide a baseline against which the effects of climate and environmental change can be monitored. Andrea Britton, a Plant Ecologist at the James Hutton Institute, said, “Fungi are crucially important to the functioning of our alpine ecosystems, but because they are mostly hidden below ground, and because alpine ecosystems are remote and difficult to access, we know very little about the distribution and diversity of fungi in this iconic habitat. “Thanks to the hard work of volunteers and scientists coming together, the data from this survey will add significantly to our knowledge of this vital group and can be used to start identifying which habitats and locations are particularly important for conservation of fungal diversity.” Plantlife’s Keilidh Ewan, project manager, said “There are more living organisms in just one teaspoon of soil than there are people on the planet, and soil biodiversity has a hugely important role to play in the functioning of ecosystems. The coming together of researchers, conservationists and the local community has uncovered some wild and wonderful species and has created evidence-based foundations against which the effects of climate and environmental change can be monitored going forward. This is helping us to understand the threats that this fragile habitat is facing and, ultimately, the more we understand, the better we can protect these much-loved places for the future.” Many of Scotland’s alpine species are already living on the edge of their natural range with nowhere else left to go in a landscape that is warming up fast, and these are the species most at risk of extinction. In harsh environments such as these, fungi have a crucial role to play in helping arctic-alpine plants obtain the essential nutrients needed to survive, yet very little is known about them, so these exciting scientific discoveries come at a crucial time. Fungi new to the UK discovered in the Cairngorms 14 Hutton Highlights December 022 5 Enjoying the Magazine? Feedback Survey
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