THERE are several challenges in providing enough food for the world's fast-growing population but Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics chief executive officer Peter Langridge is optimistic that demand can be met through a mixture of innovation and collaboration.
Prof Langridge was a keynote speaker at the Innovation Generation conference in Adelaide recently.
"For several years, we have seen food availability being impacted by droughts and floods combined with increasing price volatility and a growing reliance on imports," he said.
"Combine this with the past six out of 10 years where wheat consumption out-did wheat production and grain reserves were at a record low. To overcome such impediments, we need new technologies which offer improved management of resources and the speed and sophistication of breeding.
"This technology still remains a significant but important challenge along with the need for increased communication, human resources and physical resources."
He said there were five elements that had to be considered to tackle food security.
"The definition of food security from the United Nations is based on five pillars," Prof Langridge said.
"The first is whether food is available to people. The second is accessibility - can people afford to buy it? The third is acceptability - does it meet the requirements for different religions/food preferences? The fourth is adequacy - does it meet the nutrition required and the fifth is stability - is supply guaranteed over a long period?"
He said that although Australia felt safe in regards to food security, there were problems in certain areas.
"There are issues in remote communities and with institutional facilities having access to nutritious food at all times," he said.
"Australia produces 60 million tonnes of grain in a normal year, 40 million more than the nation needs. But in 2007-08 supply only just met demand and we came close to having to import grain."
Prof Langridge said the past few years had seen increasing volatility in the price and availability of staple foods.
"This is being caused by the diversion of grains in Europe and North America into biofuel, and also speculation on grain in international markets," he said.
"That volatility is likely to remain for some time."
*Full report in Stock Journal, July 19 issue, 2012.
