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Biography |
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Richard Flavell gained his PhD from the University of East Anglia, UK. After developing many strands of plant molecular genetics at the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge UK, much of it linked to wheat, he was Director of the John Innes Centre, Norwich UK from 1987 to 1998. Since then he has been Chief Scientific Officer of Ceres, a Californian based, biotechnology seed company specializing in energy crops. He is a member of The Royal Society of London and EMBO and was awarded the CBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to plant and microbial sciences in the UK. He now serves as a consultant to various agricultural organizations and companies.
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Abstract |
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Sustainable Crop Production: the way ahead |
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Future sustainable crop production requires genetics/plant breeding to provide adapted seed, agronomy and supportive policies, as in the past. However current plant breeding and agronomy horizons are very different from the past. Genomics has changed plant breeding opportunities and precision agriculture is opening up new ways of optimizing inputs in intensive crop production. Policies surrounding the adoption of gmos have created much confusion in many countries. This suggests that the adoption of many innovations around the world in the coming decades could be seriously undermined by policy decisions, making sustainable agriculture and food security more vulnerable to climate change and other serious challenges. Some of the emerging technical innovations and policy opportunities will be presented in this forward looking contribution. |
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