The global challenges we face are now well known and acknowledged. Many stem from the fact that there are 7 billion people on our planet today, but in fewer than four decades there will be 9 billion.

This leads in particular to the challenge of global food security. In parts of the world there is already a food security crisis, but with more people, less land and fewer inputs we have to find a way to give the growing global population access to safe, nutritious and affordable food.

The challenge is multi-faceted: we need to produce enough of the right food of the right quality, transport it, trade it, prevent waste and ensure it is safe. There will be no one solution to the food security challenge. It demands a broad-spectrum approach, and microbiology has a key and central role to play in this.

Every part of the microbiology research community has something to contribute. Microbes are ubiquitous – from our guts to the air, water and soil. This, together with the threats they pose and the services they provide, makes the study of microbes vital. Such studies will include ensuring food safety through tackling pathogens such as Campylobacter, Escherichia coli and rotaviruses in the food chain, fostering a better understand of nutrient  cycling in soil, reducing losses to fungal and bacterial plant and animal pathogens, and helping to further our understanding of the symbiotic relationships that are essential to so many of our crops. Of course, fungi and
algae are already consumed directly, as mushrooms, mycoprotein and seaweeds, many ‘preserved’ foods are the products of microbial fermentations, and microbes contribute important elements of the food chain that end for us in organisms such as fish.

BBSRC, and our partners in the multi-funder Global Food Security programme, recognize the role of microbiology in supporting efforts to meet this important challenge. We have demonstrated this through our support for programmes that have major microbiology elements and look forward to working closely with the strong UK microbiology community.

I commend the Microbiology Society for their work on this position statement and give it my full support.

Professor Douglas Kell, Chief Executive, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

 

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Image: BBSRC