Diversifying world agriculture - a common framework for crop data comparison

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The world is dependent on a small number of crops, with rice, maize and wheat 60% of plant-based calories world-wide. Climate change and population growth are major threats for future food and nutritional security, with more nutrient-dense food required, on the same land, with reduced inputs to decrease release of climate change gases. Major crops which have been bred for yield under high input conditions have often lost genes for resilience, so evaluation of minor and underutilised crops with resilience traits (drought, heat, salinity, pest resistance etc) is one option. However, new crops often lack data, from genomics, through agronomy, value added products and to consumer demand. One simple step for increasing the use of minor crops is through reformulation of existing products, which can improve national food security and decrease the length of supply chains. To be able to use this approach, it is important to have data that allows realistic comparisons between the minor crop and the equivalent major crop (or compositional components of them) and to ensure that in the trait comparisons are in the 'same language' in the different crops, so that it possible to make a realistic comparison. Exploring approaches to make and validate meaningful comparisons to inform future food production is a major focus of this PhD, taking advantage of research activity in the EU H2020 RADIANT project on developing dynamic value chains for underutilised crops. The CropStore database was developed by Prof Graham King at Rothamsted Research and is used in the Brassica Information Portal (at Earlham Institute) and can integrate data ranging from genomics through to composition and product value. After moving to Southern Cross University close to Brisbane, he continued the development of the database and diversified it to include data from Australian underutilised crops and, with CFF, Bambara groundnut.