Rethinking agriculture in a changing climate 
27 January 2010
3pm - 4pm
Venue: University of Auckland Conference Centre, 22 Symonds St
Host: Co-hosted by the Faculty of Science and Plant & Food Research
Cost: Free
The global population is expected to increase by another 3 billion by the middle of the 21st century. The amount of arable land had changed relatively little over the past half century and is not likely to increase much in the future. Water scarcity is already a critical concern in parts of the world and climate change is already impacting agriculture.
Dr Nina Federoff says that gains can be made in the short run by bringing up-to-date agronomic and food science technology and know-how to more people, but that future gains will require increasing productivity on land already farmed, while decreasing the environmental impact of agriculture. She argues that this will require progress in the acceptance of molecular genetic modification of plants and may well require the development of new types of farming systems, particularly in arid regions.
Dr Fedoroff is Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Willaman Professor of Life Science at Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on the molecular biology of plant genes, particularly the response of plants to stressful environments. In 2007, Dr Fedoroff was appointed as Science and Technology Adviser to then US Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, a position she still holds for the current Secretary, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Dr Fedoroff is in New Zealand for the New Zealand-US Joint Commission Meeting, hosted by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. Her public lecture in Auckland is co-hosted by Faculty of Science and Plant & Food Research.
