Embedding sustainability into global growth...

Embedding sustainability into

global growth strategies

Matthew.Sharman@fera.co.uk

What is FERA Sciences Ltd?

Our science

• National and international

centre of excellence for

interdisciplinary investigation

and problem solving across plant

and bee health, crop protection,

sustainable agriculture, food and

feed quality and chemical safety

in the environment.

• Remote, faster, early-warning

diagnostics and interventions

• Discovery technology across the

agri-food chain

• Smarter surveillance data and

risk analysis

• Sustainability in the agri-food

chain, increasing output and

reducing waste

Translating science

• New technologies to identify

and counteract emerging

threats

• Risk analysis and customer

assurance, for regulatory and

business needs

• Integrating detection,

diagnostic and surveillance

capabilities

Sustainability and Growth

Sustainable

productivity &

environmental

protection

Chemical

safety &

stewardship

Food safety &

authenticity

Proficiency

testing

Crop health

protection

Targeted

knowledge for

informed

decision

making

Food

packaging &

migration

Novel

foodstuffs

From Farm to Fork

Adding value across the agri-food chain

Sustainability Goals

• Reduced Energy consumption

• Conserving water

XX% Reduction (per unit of finished production)

Safely return XX% of waste water and to replenish water used in final

products in water stressed areas

• Improved use of solid waste

Increased recycling and reuse of waste

• Alternative packaging

Reduced weight, Increased recyclability

• Lowering GHG emissions

Factors affecting Business Growth

• A rapidly increasing global population

• New Product Development

• Emerging markets

• Consumer buying preferences

• Quality differentiation

• Reduced costs of production

• Avoiding “Shock events”

How can this be achieved?

Growing more, using less, protecting the

environment

• Robust systems for identifying and managing risks

• Measurement sciences, to “detect change”

• Multi disciplinary collaboration

(across the whole food production chain)

• Better use of data

Robust systems for identifying and managing risks

An increased risk of future

epidemic events Crop biosecurity, a one-world global challenge

Climate

change

Human

movement Trade

A history of big pest events Shock events drive poverty, manageable pest

drive markets

Cassava Mosaic Disease

Cassava Brown Streak Disease

Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease

Banana Xanthomonas Wilt

Coconut Lethal Yellowing Disease

Fusarium Tropical Race 4

Chemical Risk to food

Toxicity Chronic vs. Acute, High exposure groups

Occurrence

Usage data

Frequency and concentration in food

Data? ‘Known’ or ‘Unknown’ chemical

Knowledge?

Intelligence e.g. a Food Integrity toolkit

Allergen

Labelling

Microbial Chemical

Contaminants

Measurement Sciences

Measure change…..?

• (Bio)chemists historically “profile” the target analyte

(chemical/biological entity)

• Newer strategy is to profile food / agricultural

products and measure change in profile

Profile normality

Identify change

Identify cause

Smarter measurements

Data

Typical or Atypical?

Smart surveillance - example

Data from multiple samples

Sample No. 1

Sample No. 25

Sample No. 5

Atypical…

Variation in

production

processes or

new chemical

risk?

Multi disciplinary collaboration

(preferred bidder status)

The Centre for Crop Health and Protection

An international gateway for innovation that unites

industry and non-industry partners to revolutionise

how global farming deals with biotic crop threats like

pests, pathogens and weeds.

15 Grand Challenges

CIEL industry

Industry driven

research needs

CIEL relationships

Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL)

(preferred bidder status)

CONSUMERS

Final thought - Better use of data?

Conclusions

• Successful growth and sustainability is heavily dependent

upon measurement sciences and other reliable data sources

• New technologies using chemical and molecular biological

profiling to measure change will provide a game changing

environment for: • Business growth

• Improved control (and traceability) of the Agri-food chain

• Better quality products

• Enhanced customer experience

• Reduced agricultural inputs, increased outputs

• Timely business decisions

• After all … if you can’t measure it….

…… you can’t manage it!

Matthew.Sharman@fera.co.uk

November 2015