The Wire

Big gains in agricultural production have been underpinned in the last century by investment in research and development.

Whether it be drought resistant or disease resistant crops, more efficient water management or better animal husbandry, it needs also be married to protecting vulnerable animal species, maintaining the biodiversity of microbial life in soils and reducing polluting runoff.

The accelerating urbanisation of most countries is possible with the advances of R&D in agriculture and there needs to be more ways of sharing the technological discoveries to poorer regions of the world.