This daunting task is something eminent researchers from Lancaster University’s Environment Centre (LEC) have taken on, gaining them global recognition for finding solutions to major environmental problems.

With more than 9 billion mouths to feed by 2050, Professor Emeritus Martin Parry who developed Plant Science for Food Security in LEC a decade ago, has spent his career trying to increase the yield of major crops, and increasing efficiencies of production and also quality.He believes one way to do this is to increase photosynthesis of crops such as wheat by understanding how yield and quality are determined by genes and plant reactions to different environments.

Professor Parry said: “We know we need to increase crop production worldwide and do this using fewer resources. Our research has suggested to meet food demand by 2050 we need to close yield gaps and increase global crop yields by 70-110 per cent.

“Add to this climate change and extreme weather meaning high and low temperatures, droughts and flooding alongside increased air pollution, and it means our plants are going to face extreme stresses that will hinder growth and crop yields.

“We need to make our plants and crops more resilient to these stresses. Our aim is to understand how gene composition and sequencing in different environments such as drought affects crop yield and how we can manipulate these genes to improve photosynthesis and inform natural selection leading to improvements in future crop generations.”

Ripe for change

Professor Parry’s research includes the RIPE project (Realising Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency) part funded by the Gates Foundation to increase the yield of staple food crops in developing countries.

As one of the first people to genetically engineer Rubisco, an enzyme that activates the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into sugars, Professor Parry led a team focussed on making Rubisco more efficient.

Professor Parry said: “Rubisco is the first enzyme involved in carbon fixation but it’s also inefficient because it can bind with oxygen which wastes energy instead of binding with carbon dioxide which the plant converts into much needed glucose that helps it grow.

“Binding with oxygen results in wasted carbon and energy in photorespiration. Rubisco is abundant in plants but is also a slow enzyme. For example, if we could speed it up then we wouldn’t need as much nitrogen (widely used as a fertiliser) for photosynthesis, to support high crop yields.”

World-leading researchers

This enzyme is the lifetime research passion of colleague Professor of Crop Physiology Elizabete Carmo-Silva who was recently named one of the world’s most influential academics (Clarivate Highly Cited) and Deputy Director of the RIPE project alongside leading the Photosynthesis Team within LEC.

Like Professor Parry, her research aims to understand and improve the efficiency of photosynthesis to sustainably enhance crop productivity and climate resilience.

This enzyme is the lifetime research passion of colleague Professor of Crop Physiology Elizabete Carmo-Silva who was recently named one of the world’s most influential academics (Clarivate Highly Cited) and Deputy Director of the RIPE project alongside leading the Photosynthesis Team within LEC.

Like Professor Parry, her research aims to understand and improve the efficiency of photosynthesis to sustainably enhance crop productivity and climate resilience.

One key focus has been on the relationship between light levels and Rubisco activation. Professor Carmo-Silva said: “The amount of light determines the amount of energy available for CO₂ assimilation. Plants in the field experience not only day and night but also leaves in the canopy transition frequently between shade and full sun.

“Rubisco takes quite a few minutes to adjust when leaves switch from shade to high light. During those minutes, the leaf isn’t assimilating as much CO₂ as it has the light energy for, so there is a substantial loss.”

Why there is this time lag in the light response of Rubisco has led Prof Carmo-Silva and her team to explore variations across various plant crops.

Recent research has focused on cowpea, a legume grown widely in sub–Saharan Africa that is critical for food security.

Alongside Lecturer in Plant Science Dr Samuel Taylor, they found that as cowpea leaves go into shade the Rubisco activity drops in just a couple of minutes, which is much more rapidly than was previously thought.

By recording the ‘lag’ when a shaded leaf comes back into light and the several minutes it takes to get going they estimate that plants lose 20 per cent of potential carbon dioxide uptake each day.

To further compound this slow response to changes in light, the assimilation of CO₂ by Rubisco is impaired when crop plants experience heat stress.

Professor Carmo-Silva said: “At temperatures observed during heatwaves, the Rubisco enzyme becomes inactivated and unable to continue assimilating CO2 into sugars for the plant to grow, resulting in lower crop yields.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have years to let plants naturally evolve and adapt to the increasing frequency of heatwaves and other climate extremes.

“By examining the physiology of the crop plants in response to these environmental cues we can hopefully create new sets of seeds that are more productive and resilient to climate changes.”

More crop per drop

And the global challenge of water conservation is a topic close to the heart of Australian Professor of Sustainable Agriculture Ian Dodd.

Professor Dodd said: “I am focused on trying to deliver ‘more crop per drop’ within cropping systems. Globally, agriculture uses more than 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water, with unsustainable water use threatening vulnerable ecosystems and compromising food security.

“As a plant scientist, I’m most interested in how plant root systems sense their environment and transmit long-distance signals to the shoot to regulate growth and water use.”

Professor Dodd is involved in many global research projects hoping to support food production in a changing climate and focusses on the volume, frequency, and placement of water.

His research includes a major study on different wet and drying irrigation techniques in Ghana, which can sustain crop yields while reducing water use in important crops such as rice (the most water-demanding crop).

He is also working with industry to develop more sustainable fertiliser sources, a topical issue with the price of synthetic chemical fertilisers more than doubling in the last year due to the Ukraine war.

Collaboration is at the heart of all research and as a leading voice in Agri-Food challenges, Lancaster’s Plant Biology Group works closely with industry, plant breeders, farmers, manufacturers, and policy makers to bring about real changes improving food production and crop security worldwide.

Closer to home

Meanwhile closer to home the University is constantly improving the sustainability of its food provision on campus including using local suppliers to cut food miles, using Farm Assured meat and promoting seasonal and plant-based menus.

To tackle food waste on campus, surplus food is offered at discount prices via the Too Good to Go app which also supports the cost of living for students and reusable steel kegs supply milk to some of the outlets on campus, which saves on hundreds of plastic milk bottles over the year.