Topic description and stories

The task of ensuring affordable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all is one of the major challenges of the 21st century.

Camel farming

Farming the 'long-necked thing’: moving from cows to camels

23 Sep 2013

A move from cattle herding to camel keeping among Kenyan farmers is more than an economic transition, it represents a fundamental shift in age-old...

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Raspberries

Food industry giants call for pitches from University inventors

12 Jan 2013

University inventors and entrepreneurs whose research has applications in the food and consumer goods sectors will have the opportunity to...

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Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, on the Kenya-Somalia border. The Horn of Africa frequently experiences severe drought and hundreds of thousands of people have trekked to Dadaab seeking food, water, shelter and safety.

Feeding seven billion

21 Nov 2012

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...

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Initial ISI-MIP simulation showing the effects on vegetation productivity at the highest emissions scenario (reduction: red to yellow; increase: green to blue)

Modelling impacts of a warming world

03 Oct 2012

A community-driven modelling effort aims to quantify one of the gravest of global uncertainties: the impact of global warming on the world’s food...

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Crops Growing

Unlocking the agricultural economics of the 19th century

03 Oct 2012

The Corn Returns – market data from the 19th century and beyond – represent a valuable resource for economic historians looking at the emergence of...

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Green and pleasant land: A farm near East Meon in Hampshire.

Farming loved but misunderstood, survey shows

23 Aug 2012

A YouGov Cambridge poll has revealed widespread affection for agriculture, even though there is a surprising level of ignorance about the sector and...

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Tomato

Prize tomato

30 May 2012

A group of students on the University of Cambridge’s MPhil course in Engineering for Sustainable Development has devised a project that will help...

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Trees

Research, policy, practice: conservation in the round

07 Feb 2012

Conservation scientists working in partnership with practitioners and policy makers are building practical tools for real-world conservation.

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Gola Forest credit Jeremy Lindsell

Canopy commerce: forest conservation and poverty alleviation

03 Feb 2012

Innovative approaches for protecting the future of Sierra Leone’s Gola Forest – globally important for its biodiversity and its carbon reserves – are...

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Plant cells, like these in wheat, are surrounded by thick walls where energy is locked up.

Breeding better grasses for food and fuel

17 Jan 2012

Newly discovered family of genes could help us breed grasses with improved properties for food and fuel.

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Vegetables

Food security: your questions answered

31 Aug 2011

Over the past month, the University of Cambridge has been profiling research that addresses one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century – how...

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Genetically modified chicken

Field to fork: safeguarding livestock health

21 Jul 2011

Veterinary research in Cambridge is spearheading a new generation of preventive methods to protect livestock from disease.

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