Crop Science in Food Security Brian Diers

Outline Role of Crop Science in food security Crop Sciences Department research on increasing crop production USAID soybean project in Africa

Global Crop Production Needs to Double by 2050 Yield increases of 2.4% / year needed to meet demand without putting more land in production Current 1.6% 1.0% 0.9% 1.3% Ray DK, Mueller ND, West PC, Foley JA (2013) Yield Trends Are Insufficient to Double Global Crop Production by 2050. PLoS ONE 8(6): e66428. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066428 http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0066428

Ray DK, Mueller ND, West PC, Foley JA (2013) Yield Trends Are Insufficient to Double Global Crop Production by 2050. PLoS ONE 8(6): e66428. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066428 http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0066428

US yield increases are approximately 1% / Year

Crop Sciences Department is Focused on the Crop Production Challenge Diverse portfolio of research Breeding/genetics Molecular biology/genomics Agronomy Plant protection

Crop Sciences Department Soybean Breeding and Genetics Research Improving soybean with a focus on yield and disease resistance. Releasing nonGMO varieties. Identifying useful diversity in USDA soybean germplasm collection (Randall Nelson, curator).

Soybean Innovation Lab Breeding Research in Africa

Why Soybean in Africa? There is a protein deficiency in Africa and soybean produces more protein / area of farmland compared to any crop or livestock system. Soybean is a relatively low input crop and doesn’t require nitrogen fertilizer. Better varieties and production practices needed to improve yield and make the crop profitable for growers.

Soybean Yields are Low in Africa African soybean yields are similar to the USA in the 1930s. Yield kg/ha Year

Participants in Breeding Effort USA (60+ years of soybean breeding experience) Randy Nelson – USDA-ARS and University of Illinois Brian Diers – University of Illinois Africa (little experience in breeding soybean) Hesham Agrama – IITA breeder Malawi and Zambia Nicholas Denwar – SARI breeder, Ghana Abush Tesfaye – Jimma Agricultural Research Center

Soybean Breeding Programs SIL providing: Basic equipment for breeding Threshers, planters, vehicles, crossing forceps, scales Germplasm Technical expertise

Conclusions Crop Science has a critical role in food security Crop yields are increasing, but not fast enough to meet growing demands Crop Sciences Department research portfolio is focused on improving sustainable crop production The Soybean Innovation Lab is working in increase soybean production in Africa

Need for Food Production Increase Maize (corn), rice, wheat, and soybean produce nearly 2/3 of global agricultural calories. We need increase of 2.4% per year (non-compounding) for these crops globally. Current global rates are 1.6% (maize), 1.0% (rice), 0.9% (wheat) and 1.3% (soybean). Ray DK, Mueller ND, West PC, Foley JA (2013) Yield Trends Are Insufficient to Double Global Crop Production by 2050. PLoS ONE 8(6): e66428. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0066428 http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0066428

Need for Crop Production Increase Crop production is needs to double by 2050 be meet growing demands How to meet the demand? Increase area under production Increase output of land in production

Challenges Breeding programs are small Breeders have staff lack experience with the crop Limited by the number of plots that can be planted and threshed by hand threshed Limited by what is viewed as possible