Twenty First Century Crops: Recent Episodes

‘Feeding Seven Billion’

Cambridge led Public Debates on Global Food Security:

Debate 1: Biotechnology, Intellectual Property and Twenty First Century Crops

What is the relative role of private industry and publicly-funded research in promoting agro-biotechnologies? Is technological innovation the primary way to address the challenge of food security? What are the strategic priorities of the biotechnology industry? Might the utilisation of agro-biotechnologies limit other options for agrarian reform? What is the impact of GMOs on food safety and seed security? Is there a necessary trade off between these two concerns?

Speakers: Dr Derek Byerlee; Indpendent Researcher and Author of the World Bank World Development Report 2008 Agriculture for Development.

Professor Ian Crute; Chief Scientist, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. Lead Expert Group for the UK Foresight project on Food and Farming Future

Professor Jack Kloppenburg; University of Wisconsin. Distinguished environmental sociologist and award winning author of First the Seed: The Political Economy of Biotechnology.

Chair: Professor Christopher Gilligan; Chair, Cambridge University Strategic Initiative in Global Food Security; Professor of Mathematical Biology, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge