"Enhancing Global Collaborations in Crop Science" GPC Symposium on 4th Nov. 2018 , CSSA/ASA Annual meeting In Baltimore USA.
Katherine Denby, York University, UK. The N8 AgriFood Resilience Programme
3. #ThePowerof8
Why Work Together?
• Common goals – to drive investment and growth
• Regional-wide collaborations – at large scale and where strengths synergise
• A strong voice – for the sector and the region
• Efficiency – Central facilities and region-wide facilities database
• Engagement – single portal for businesses
4. 4 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
N8 AgriFood combines the technical expertise and facilities
across eight universities with £16m HEFCE catalyst funding to
facilitate inter-disciplinary, stakeholder-led, agri-food research.
It includes:
• 5 Research farms, >1000 Ha
• 10 new Professorial appointments & 16 KE Fellows
• Series of Industry Innovation Forums
• Pump-priming & Business Development Support
5. 5 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
N8 AgriFood influencing changes in
agri-food and environmental policy
and practice
A sustained N8 AgriFood model
based on collaborative practices
which have created sustainable
and influential partnerships in the
agri-food community
N8 AgriFood activities lead to
a more sustainable food
system beyond 2020;
improving food security and
sustaining natural resources.
6. 6 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
A unique single entry point to excellence in agri-food research
N8 AgriFood: Joined up thinking across
organisations, disciplines and the food system
£16 million programme funded by HEFCE, led by University of York
7. 7 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Combining soil health,
resilient and productive crops and livestock,
novel diagnostics and predictive modelling
to promote resilient, sustainable
food production
8. 8 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Adapting food supply systems
to deliver better resilience while
improving nutrition, reducing
environmental impacts and
sustaining economies fairly
9. 9 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Improving public health while
lowering the burden of food
production and distribution on
the natural environment: through
changes in behaviour, diet and
other socio-economic factors
10. 10 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
• breadth of programme
• degree of collaboration between
universities
• involvement of external stakeholders
• Focus on multidisciplinary research
• Focus on problem solving
11. 11 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Challenges
• Eight universities, up to 230 km apart
• Different structures, operating & financial processes
• Competition between universities
• Stakeholder relationships
• Competition and conflict
• >850 research groups – plus support staff
• How to ‘connect’ and communicate – different systems
• Ensuring added value – not duplication
• Catalysing multi-disciplinary activity
12. 12 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Strategy for Success
• Enthusiastic and engaged staff
• External hires into lead positions
• Professorial visiting roles
• Knowledge Exchange Fellow (KEF) cohort
• Communication
• External Advisory Board – trusted “friends” of the
Programme
• Governance input from University partners
• Carrots (£)
13. 13 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Together, the N8 universities have:
• more than 800 researchers working in agri-food resilience
• significant research facilities including six research farms, extensive glass-houses,
workshops, laboratories, GM handling, organic / conventional, genome editing etc.
Combining expertise in:
• Soil health
• Plant biology
• Crop improvement
• Biofuels and bioenergy
• Weed, pest and disease management
• Livestock health and well-being
• Human and animal nutrition
• Big data acquisition and analytics
• Consumer behaviour and diet choice
• Health and nutrition
• Food processing and product innovation
• Globalisation and resilient food supply
chains
• Fair trade and food economics
• Modelling and simulation of food supply
networks
• Waste and resource management
14. 14 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Knowledge
Exchange
Fellow Team
Lancaster
Agricultural
Systems
Leeds
Behavioural
change
Liverpool
Livestock
Health
Manchester
Soil Health /
Sensor
TechnologyNewcastle
Socio-
technology
interface
Sheffield
Sustainable
production
systems
York
Social
enterprise &
marketing/
Sustainable
Crop
Production
Durham
New Crop
Varieties
15. 15 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Translational Crop Biology – Durham
Soil Nutrients – Lancaster
Improved Crops for Livestock and Human Consumption – Liverpool
Livestock Nutrition and Gut Health – Leeds
Soil Health, Structure and Function – Sheffield
Soil Health - Manchester
Sensor Technology – Manchester
Resistance to Stress in Plants and Livestock – Newcastle
Environmental Systems Modelling – Sheffield
Justice and the Global Food System – Sheffield
Global Food Justice – Sheffield
Soil Health and Plant Stress – York
Sustainable Food systems – York
Sociology and political economy of agro-food systems - Lancaster
14 Knowledge Exchange Fellows working as 1 team
16. 16 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Developing an innovation cluster in urban controlled
environment agriculture:
•Growstack, V-Farm, Cool
Farm,
•University of Sheffield
•University of Lancaster
•Universities of Sheffield
•University of Durham
•University of Liverpool
•University of Manchester
•Liberty Produce, G’s group,
Airponix, Harper Adams
University…
•V-Farm, City Farm Systems,
Farm Urban, Regather,
Feed Leeds Green Lab…
•Les Firbank (Leeds)
•Harry Langford (Sheffield)
•Iain Young (Liverpool)
•Elisa Lopez-Capel
(Newcastle)
•Stockbridge
Technology Centre,
FERA, Vertical Farming
Association
•Bruce Grieve
(Manchester)
•Ian Dodd (Lancaster)
System
efficiency
and costs
Urban
society &
localised
supply chain
Artificial
intelligence
and data
analytics
Yield,
resilience &
trait
optimisation
17. 17 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
• Resilient Supply Chains April 2016
• Turning Ideas into Sustainable and Profitable Solutions Oct 2016
• Increasing Crop Productivity Through Understanding and Improving Soil Health March 2017
• Managing the AMU/AMR Complex in Food Animals May 2017
• Digital Innovation in Dairy Sept 2017
• Improving Traceability and Transparency in Global Supply Chains April 2018
Industry Innovation Forums
focused workshops to build projects addressing problems faced by industry
>130 participants from Industry, NGOs, Policy & Regulatory Bodies
18. 18 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Our aim is to produce
• new datasets
• information resources
• appropriate technology tools for farmers
• decision making tools for business
• consumer mobile technologies all
to enhance overall food system resilience.
We aim to
• explore innovative ways of making dairy systems
better for the natural environment
• and for farmers’ livelihoods
• while maintaining long term supplies for consumers at
reasonable prices
• at a time of unpredictable challenges like climate
change.
Resilience in the Dairy Industry
20. 20 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
WP1: Identifying transformative social and technological on-
farm innovations
Problem space: New technologies exist with potential to increase on-farm resilience, but
‘end-of-pipe’ approach to implementation does not guarantee uptake as it undermines
farmer knowledge.
Approach: Employ novel social learning processes to shift the model of technology
‘provision’ to one of co-designed technology.
Progress:
• Farmer-learning groups established, farmer led with engineers, scientists present
(6* meetings):
• Key ‘issues’ undermining farm resilience identified;
• Attributes for technology solutions being elicited with wider group of engineers;
Next steps:
• Prototyping solutions this via process of co-design with learning groups &
engineers;
• Testing insights and understanding barriers at national level.
www.iknowfood.org
21. 21 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
WP2: Developing tools to promote resilient
food supply chains
Problem space: Food supply chains are complex and opaque, which masks locations or
risks, and hides opportunities for leverage to more sustainable sourcing models.
Approach: Combine state-of-the-art supply chain modelling with knowledge of political
economy and governance to inform supply chain decision-making.
Progress:
• Models that link sub-national production systems to UK food consumption;
• Critique of global value chain theory as a model for promoting sustainable
sourcing (applied to soy supply chains).
• Two papers: Journal of Cleaner Production (in print) and Global Policy (accepted).
Next steps:
• Analysis of UK dependencies on international food supply;
• Stakeholder interviews and prototyping decision support tools.
www.iknowfood.org
22. 22 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
WP3: Influencing consumer & household food choice
for resilience
Problem space: To date, we have failed to promote sustainable and resilient diets
across consumer groups.
Approach: Understand the influence of behaviour and income status as drivers of food
choice and consumption, and develop novel app-based technologies to promote more
resilient diets across all consumer groups.
Progress:
• On-line experimental studies (n-900) and eye tracking studies on behavioural
responses to marketing approaches;
• Focus groups (*3) on food sustainability with low SES groups
• Mobile apps prototyped;
• Evaluation of the role of food aid providers and lived realities of the food
insecure
Next steps:
• Review and evaluation of other mechanisms for tackling food insecurity;
• Food diaries, labelling and dietary surveys;
• Development of working apps;
www.iknowfood.org
23. 23 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
• Local pump priming
Catalyse new multidisciplinary collaborations across
N8 and with external agri-food stakeholders
Funded 140 projects
Pump priming funds
• Strategic pump priming
Multidisciplinary projects bringing together new
consortia of N8 researchers and industry/agri-
food stakeholders to address key challenges in
global food security and address issues spanning
themes of N8 AgriFood programme
10 flagship projects have been awarded a total of
£266k
We have allocated £2m to funding new projects
25. 25 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
• Promote strategic long-term partnerships
• Dedicated international engagement manager
• Working closely with FCO’s Science and Innovation Network
• Building on complementary expertise and approach
International Engagement
China - CRTDC
Argentina and USA – Research and Innovation Sub-Saharan Africa
28. 28 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
People, Health
and Food Systems
Challenges and solutions for 2030
13th – 14th June 2018
Hilton Liverpool
City Centre
LIVERPOOL, UK
INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE 2018
29. 29 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
Lessons Learned
• Collaboration v. competition
• Bringing in new people and formalising networking
• Single portal for stakeholders
• Diversity of research interests and activities
• Critical mass to engage with key stakeholders
• Knowledge exchange not transfer – co-design
• Find the enthusiastic and altruistic champions
• Communicate added value of multidisciplinary work clearly
• Develop international partnerships not possible as single university
30. 30 www.N8AgriFood.ac.uk
Securing sustainable, resilient
& healthy food supplies for all
N8 AgriFood: Joined up thinking across
organisations, disciplines and the whole supply chain
www.N8agrifood.ac.uk