16:00
Cambridge University
October 22
Pembroke College
Professor Johannes Kromdijk will deliver the 2026 Cooks' Company Lecture, 'Food security: a battle between quantity and diversity?' Throughout the course of the 20th century, the quest to enhance food security has led to pronounced changes in crop production. During this period, often referred to as the Green Revolution, dramatic increases in crop productivity were achieved, sustaining an approximate tripling of the world population. However, food security is increasingly recognised to involve more than caloric sufficiency and instead may also need to factor in dietary health and diversity. In addition, diversity in the species used to supply our food is increasingly important to mitigate the impacts of a changing climate. In this talk, I will explore to what extent these factors may have been juxtaposed historically and how this may look into the future.