£5.3m joint investment to support sustainable food production in Latin America

The changing climate and the need to feed a growing world population is putting significant strains on food production systems globally and solutions are required to enhance agricultural production in a sustainable way. By addressing the water needs and heat tolerance of crops as well as the impact of livestock grazing, the partnerships will address this challenge.

Tim Willis, BBSRC Associate Director International, said: “This important research will benefit poor farmers in Latin America, providing evidence-based approaches to manage livestock, protect biodiversity and reduce the pressure on freshwater supplies”.

The projects that have been funded are:

UK-Colombia: Sustainable Tropical Agriculture Systems (Stage 2)

1. Advancing sustainable forage-based livestock production systems in Colombia (CoForLife), Prof Jon Moorby, Aberystwyth University / Dr Jacobo Arango, CIAT
2. Towards BIOSmart livestock farming in Colombia: cultural landscapes, silvo-pastoral systems and biodiversity, Dr Maria Paula Escobar, University of Bristol / Dr Marcela Quintero, CIAT
3. Bean Breeding for Adaptation to a Changing Climate and Post-Conflict Colombia (BBACO), Prof Donal O’Sullivan, University of Reading / Dr Stephen Beebe, CIAT

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world and supporting farming while protecting the environment poses a great challenge for the country. Working with the CGIAR International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), based in Cali, Colombia, UK researchers will tackle this challenge.

UK-Mexico: Improving Mexican Crop Resilience to Abiotic Stress.

1. Safeguarding Sonora’s wheat from climate change, Dr Sigrid Heuer, Rothamsted Research / Dr Elisa Valenzuela-Soto, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo (CIAD)

2. Exploiting night-time traits to improve wheat yield and water use efficiency in the warming climate of North-western Mexico, Dr Erik Murchie, University of Nottingham / Prof Jamie Garatuza-Payan, Instituto Tecnologico de Sonora (ITSON)

3. Improving water use and accelerating breeding pipelines in Mexican avocado, Dr Stuart Casson, University of Sheffield / Dr Rafael Urrea-Lopez, Centro de Investigación y Asistencia en Tecnología y Diseño del Estado de Jalisco (CIATEJ)

4. Development of beneficial microbiome communities to increase the resistance against abiotic stress in Carica papaya and Capsicum annuum, Dr Patrick Schäfer, University of Warwick / Dr Wilberth Chan Cupul, University of Colima

The investment in these projects is being made in partnership with the Science and Technology Councils of the Mexican States of Colima (CECYTCOL), Jalisco (COECYTJAL), and Sonora (COECYT).

In Mexico, food production is seriously threatened by heat and drought. The lack of rainfall in 2011 caused a devastating drought affecting 70% of the country. Climate change is expected to exaggerate the occurrence of long dry spells. Growing crop varieties that require less watering or can cope better with heat could allow farmers to sustain their livelihoods as the climate warms.

Projects funded to safeguard agriculture in Mexico will explore the relationship of wheat and avocado (1/3 of avocados in the world are produced in Mexico) with water. The goal is to find new ways to improve breeding commercial varieties that use water more efficiently.

Learning from nature and exploiting beneficial fungi found on plant roots could be the way forward to protect fruit trees from drought and one of the projects will test this idea on papaya production, another major Mexican produce.

Meat, dairy products and beans are major sources of protein and farmer income and the three projects funded to support sustainable agriculture in Colombia will be looking to improve the quality and yield of these food groups, enabling small holder farmers to produce nutritious food locally. Livestock grazing and ways to minimise the negative impact it can have on the environment is at the forefront by investigating different types of grasses used as feed and silvopastoral farming, an approach combining forestry and grazing.