H&C

9
Mar
2010

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New professional development centre opens

The future holds challenges for food production

This week Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nick Herbert MP opened the new Postgraduate and Professional Development Centre at Harper Adams University College, Shropshire.

He and Lord Taylor of Holbeach, the Shadow Department’s House of Lords representative, also took the opportunity to address students, staff, invited guests and the media on the Conservatives’ thinking on agricultural research and development.

Opening the new centre, Mr Herbert said: “It is a great pleasure to be here and to be able to open this centre. Science is going to be immensely important to the challenge of increasing food production sustainably.

Harper Adams Principal Dr David Llewellyn said: “Our investment in new facilities for postgraduate and professional development students underlines the importance we place on developing very high level skills for the agri-food sector, for which there is an acknowledged shortage.

“We are growing our postgraduate provision and have a strong commitment to continuing professional development through the Rural Employer Engagement Development Network (REEDNet) featured recently in the UK Cross Government Food Research and Innovation Strategy.”

The Shadow Secretary used the opportunity to outline his hopes for the countryside: “A prosperous British farming community; a thriving natural environment; and vibrant rural communities: Harper Adams in contributing in one way or another to all of these causes. The future holds considerable challenges for the land based industries, but also offers enormous opportunities."

“Now is the time to look forward. Demand for food is increasing rapidly, driven by population growth and changing diets. At the same time, one’s ability to meet this demand is being severely compromised by climate change and the depletion of our natural resources. Farming cannot be seen as an industry of the past. It must be an industry of the future. And the Government must create conditions in which it can succeed – in tune with nature and in truly open markets. There is little doubt that science, technological innovation and knowledge exchange will have a pivotal role in helping to meet that dual challenge.”

“The application of science has changed the face of the agricultural sector since the days of Thomas Harper Adams over a century ago. From horse drawn ploughs to satellite guided combine harvesters, genetic improvements and advanced stock protection products, agriculture has been transformed. But with nine billion mouths to feed by 2050, we cannot afford to stand still."

Harper Adams Principal Dr David Llewellyn said: “We were delighted to be able to welcome Nick Herbert and Lord Taylor to the University College where we were able to show them our wide range of research and teaching facilities and provide them with an opportunity to meet staff and students.

“Lord Taylor’s address on emerging thinking on agricultural research and development was also timely, in that it emphasised a need for a focus on applied research, the translation of research into practice and skills development – three of the key areas in which Harper Adams is already engaged.”