Lumen Winter 2023 - Flipbook - Page 16
Fast (future) food
By Lee Gaskin
When it comes to the problem of feeding
a growing population, the world is facing
many challenges.
A 2017 United Nations report predicted
9.8 billion people would inhabit the planet
by the year 2050 – a substantial increase
from the current estimated figure of more
than eight billion.
That’s an extra 1.8 billion mouths to feed, at
a time when a changing climate is leading to
drier and more arid conditions for farming.
Growing food in a sustainable way is the
key. This includes less reliance on water
and finding alternatives to products that
contribute to rising levels of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere.
“Dirt is a dirty word to
those who study soil - the
soil should be considered
as the Earth’s living skin,
and should be treated as
a precious resource.”
Australia isn’t immune to these issues with
our country’s dry climate and increasing
pressure on farmers to produce more
with less. This is why researchers from the
University of Adelaide are tackling this
complex and multi-faceted situation from
a multitude of directions.
“Researchers play a pivotal role in assisting
primary producer profitability.
“It is through the research, development
and extension cycle that many primary
producers learn, evolve and adapt to ensure
that their production system is as efficient as
it can be.”
The University’s Waite campus is home
to one of the largest concentrations of
agriculture and wine research and teaching
expertise in the Southern Hemisphere.
Named in honour of Peter Waite, the
Waite Agricultural Research Institute was
established on the site in 1924 following the
bequest of Urrbrae House and surrounding
acres from Peter Waite to the University
of Adelaide.
Tim leads the Soil Ecology Group which is
working on a number of projects, including:
•
Vineyard soil ecology – funded by Wine
Australia, this project is investigating the
impacts of under-vine cover crops on
vine performance, soil health, soil carbon
stocks and vineyard resilience.
•
The microbiome project – capitalising
on an archive of more than 10,000 soil
DNA samples collected from cropping
paddocks across the nation, over more
than 20 years, and through glasshouse
and field trials, this Department of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestryfunded project seeks to identify
fundamental changes in soil biological
communities due to changes in farming
systems over the past two decades. This
is in collaboration with the South
Australian Research and Development
Institute.
•
Urban agriculture – a key strategy and
important area of investigation for
global food security. Urban agriculture,
the practice of cultivating and producing
food in towns and cities, has the potential
to build community resilience in the face
of climate change.
“The School of Agriculture, Food and
Wine aims to foster excellence in science
education and research,” Jason says.
“We connect scientific excellence with the
relevant industry bodies.
“This philosophy guides and inspires our
research and teaching programs.
“Our extensive international network of
academic and commercial collaborators
provide a stimulating and unique
environment for student training.”
Nothing is more important in agriculture
than soil. It’s the basis of all plant life and is
essential for developing reliable crops.
Tim Cavagnaro is a Professor in Soil
Ecology at the University of Adelaide’s
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, and
the Associate Dean (Research Partnerships)
for the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and
Technology.
“Climate change is real and will alter the
landscape as we know it in the years ahead,”
he says.
“Healthy soil is the backbone of productive
agricultural, and indeed natural,
ecosystems,” he says.
“But all this comes at a cost, and such
challenges require primary producers to
alter their practices continually to ensure
they are ahead of the curve and are winning
in as many of those years in a typical boom
and bust cycle.
“The soil, and the diverse communities of
organisms that it is home to provide essential
ecosystem services that our very existence
depends upon.
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
“Dirt is a dirty word to those who study
soil - the soil should be considered as the
Earth’s living skin, and should be treated as
a precious resource.”
The campus is located on 184 hectares
in the Adelaide foothills at Urrbrae, seven
kilometres south-east of the Adelaide CBD.
Professor Jason Able, Head of the
University’s School of Agriculture, Food
and Wine, based at the Waite campus, says
the impacts of climate change will have a
significant impact on food production in
Australia.
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“It takes many years to produce even a
millimetre of new soil, yet it can be lost very
rapidly through poor management.
As well as research into the health of soil,
another important project has discovered a
new gene in barley and wheat that controls
the angle of root growth in soil.
This research opens the door to new cereal
varieties with deeper roots that are less
susceptible to drought and nutrient stress.
“The angle at which barley roots grow into
the soil enables them to capture water and
nutrients from different soil layers,” said
Dr Haoyu (Mia) Lou, joint first author on
a study that was published in the journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS).
