Seventy five years ago, the publication of John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath shocked the world with its description of starvation in the midst of plenty. PhD candidate Rasheed Saleuddin is re-evaluating established views of the causes of the Great Depression and argues that there are lessons to be learned today.
Leading plant scientists have called for major changes to the way GM crops are licensed.
With the world’s population already estimated to be over seven billion and rising fast, the challenge of how to produce enough food has never been more pressing. Three public debates will give people the chance to hear from and question politicians, researchers and journalists on the issues at stake.
The Corn Returns – market data from the 19th century and beyond – represent a valuable resource for economic historians looking at the emergence of modern agricultural markets. A project to make these records digitally available will help solve some of the big questions about the economics of the age.
A group of students on the University of Cambridge’s MPhil course in Engineering for Sustainable Development has devised a project that will help Mexico’s small producers of tomatoes by improving productivity and reducing wastage.
Conservation scientists working in partnership with practitioners and policy makers are building practical tools for real-world conservation.
Over the past month, the University of Cambridge has been profiling research that addresses one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century – how to guarantee enough food, fairly, for the world’s rapidly expanding population. As part of this, we asked whether you had a question that you wanted us to answer, and put them to a panel of academics who specialise in research to do with food security. Here's what they had to say. Thanks to everyone who sent questions in!
A new book by a Cambridge University academic revisits one of the worst famines in recorded history. The Irish Famine of the 1840s had terrible consequences: 1 million people died and several million left Ireland. Today the world is watching as millions in Africa face a similar fate: starvation in the midst of plenty. Dr David Nally’s analysis of what happened in his native Ireland less than two centuries ago reveals some shocking parallels with what is happening in Africa.
Fundamental research on plant development at the Sainsbury Laboratory will help in the future design of optimal crops.
A project to make conservation science accessible and relevant to conservationists and policymakers launches its first major synopsis of evidence, on bee conservation.
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