Big Shifts in Food and Agriculture R&D

September 25, 2016

Eminent Australian agricultural economist, Professor Philip Pardey, Director of Global Research Strategy, and Director, International Science and Technology Practice and Policy Center, at University of Minnesota has reported his concerns around big shifts in where research and development in food and agriculture is carried out and how that will shape future global food production, in the highly respected Nature magazine.

Philip and colleagues argue that the geographical distribution of food and agricultural research and development (AgR&D) is changing. Their analysis of more than 50 years of data indicates that the governments of middle-income nations are investing more than those of high-income ones for the first time in modern history. The numbers also suggest that, globally, private-sector spending on AgR&D is catching up with public-sector spending. Meanwhile, the gap between spending by high-income and low-income countries is widening.

He argues that today’s R&D investment decisions will cast shadows forward to 2050 and beyond, making the trends they report especially significant for the future of food production and food security.

Read more about these risks in Philip’s interview with The Land ‘Bad crop: Global R&D spend reveals alarming trends’.