Plants are essential to human life. Directly or indirectly, plants produce most of the world’s food as well as renewable sources of energy and materials.
Past improvements in our knowledge of plant biology and agronomy have underpinned large increases in crop yield and enhanced access to a far greater diversity of food on a global scale.
With an exponentially growing population (projected to increase from 6 billion to 9 billion by 2050), our planet is more than ever facing a unique challenge. Indeed, global demand for food is expected to increase by 50% by 2030 and to double by 2050, due to population growth and urbanisation. In the meantime, crops may play an increasing role in the so called “green chemistry”. It becomes, therefore, essential to ensure reliable production of safe food and renewable carbon supplies for green chemistry, without the use of excess land, energy, water, and chemicals.