11 September 2009

Food security the focus of the first in a new season of lectures

What we eat, how it is grown, and the challenges we face in feeding a rapidly expanding population at a time of climate change will be discussed at a lecture taking place in Dundee next week.

Professor Peter Gregory, director and chief executive of the Scottish Crop Research Institute, will deliver his talk, 'From global to local: environmental change and food security', when he kicks off a new season of lectures organised by the Dundee Centre of the Royal Geographical Society.

The event takes place from 7.30pm at the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre, University of Dundee, on Tuesday, September 15th. Environmental changes and food security are issues of growing concern across the world, and this timely lecture will address a number of factors exacerbating the situation, as well as possible remedies to them.

Professor Gregory says that an increasing global population, changed diets associated with growing affluence in the West, climate change and the need for bio-energy have focused attention on food security and the need for efficient methods of food production.

'Globally, the need to double agricultural production over the next 30 years means that we shall have to find even smarter ways of increasing crop yields,' he said. 'At the same time, we must deliver clean water and the many services provided by land. This will be a substantial challenge.'

'Locally, the change in climate that has occurred in the Dundee area over the last 40 years has brought both advantages and some problems with it for crop producers. On the positive side, we estimate that warmer temperatures have contributed significantly to increased potato yields while, on the debit side, the same phenomenon has contributed to earlier outbreaks of virus-carrying aphids and some plant diseases.'

Tickets for the event are available at the door, and cost £6 for visitors while RSGS members and students are entitled to free admission.

Dr John Rowan, chair of the Dundee Centre of the RSGS and a lecturer at the University, said he hoped that Professor Gregory would draw a large crowd to the first of the 2009/10 programme of RSGS lectures.

'This is a topical and important issue,' he said. 'I’m sure that it will appeal to a large number of students and members of the public, as will the rest of our exciting lecture series.'

Other RSGC lectures planned for 2009/10 are:

• October 6th 2009 - Benedict Allen, 'Life on the Edge'.
• November 3rd 2009 - John Dunn, 'Cordillera Crossing'.
• December 1st 2009 - Paul Cox, 'Travels of an Ethnobotanist'.
• January 12th 2009 - Jasper Winn, 'Kayaking a Thousand Miles Round Ireland'.
• February 2nd 2009 - Fred Pearce, 'Travels to Find Where My Stuff Comes From'.
• March 2nd - Julie Summers, 'Everest needs you, Mr Irvine'.

All talks take place in the D’Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre,

More information is available by contacting Dr Rowan on 01382 384024 or j.s.rowan@dundee.ac.uk.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
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University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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