Food for a Hungry Planet: Challenges and Perspectives.

Agricultural scientists must consider the potential of their research to offer solutions in a changing world where global warming, an increasing population, environmental degradation, reduced land available to food production, and diminishing fossil reserves challenge the agricultural status quo. The first of the UN Millennium Development Goals is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by halving the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day by the year 2015. Because the impoverished rely mainly on subsistence agriculture, scientific advances that improve crop productivity could improve the well-being of millions. Though the challenges are serious and imminent, advances in plant science that can address these challenges are now available or emerging at a rapid rate. But are we on target for 2015? This discussion will provide a snapshot of research opportunities for agricultural researchers that could soon improve the crops that provide most of the world’s food calories.