Canada Excellence Research Chair in Food Systems and Security

全球粮食安全是21世纪的紧迫挑战之一。由于到2050年世界人口预计将达到90亿，粮食生产停滞不前，需要采取新的办法来缓解饥饿、营养不良和不断上涨的粮食价格。粮食系统变得越来越复杂，不能仅仅通过生产更多的粮食来满足粮食需求。需要整合科学和政策创新的新的整体方法来为迅速增长的粮食安全危机提供创新的解决方案。食品系统和安全领域的CERC将领导一个变革性的、多学科的线性项目，通过以下方式应对粮食安全挑战：1)改善作物生产、质量和安全；2)促进环境可持续的农业实践；3)解决限制新农业技术影响的社会和经济障碍。基于萨斯喀彻温省大学S在食品相关研究方面的卓越记录，他们的顶尖梯队科学家和最先进的基础设施，这个多学科旗舰项目将汇集生物学家、计算机科学家、生物信息学家、工程师和社会科学家。CERC旗舰项目将引入新的作物改良方法，实现基于植物表型革命性进步的“按设计”植物育种，将植物表型学带入数字时代。该计划的重点是植物根系，这是植物育种的一个关键和未被充分理解的方面，该计划将加快植物育种，使其远远超出目前的育种实践，培育出产量更高、在边缘条件下生长能力更强的新作物品种。CERC将与发达国家和发展中国家的农民和生产者合作，帮助采用这些改良的作物品种和新的农业技术。CERC将使加拿大能够应对国内和国际上的粮食安全挑战，推动农业和粮食安全技术、实践和政策的变革，同时培训下一代科学家，采用创新的系统方法来解决粮食安全问题。

Global food security is one of the pressing challenges of the 21st century . With the world population anticipated to reach nine billion by 2050 and food production stagnat ing, new approaches are needed to mitigate hunger, malnutrition and rising food prices . The food system has become increasingly complex and food demand cannot be met by simply producing more food . New holistic approaches integrating scientific and policy innovation are needed to produce innovative solutions to the burgeoning food security crisis.The CERC in Food Systems and Security will lead a transformative, multidiscip linary program that will tackle food security challenges by : 1) improving crop production, quality and safety; 2) promoting environmentally sustainable agricultural practices; and 3) addressing societal and econom ic barriers that limit impact of new agricultural technologies . Building on the University of Saskatchewan 's prominent track record for food-related research, their top-echelon scient ists and state-of the-art infrastructure, this multidisciplinary flagship program will bring together biologists, computer scientists, bioinformaticists, engineers, and social scientists The CERC flagship program will introduce new approaches to crop improvement by enabling "by design" plant breeding based on revolutionary advances in plant phenotyping, moving plant phenomics into the digital age . Focusing on the plant root system, a critical and underapprec iated aspec t of plant breeding, the program will accelerate plant breed ing far beyond that of current breeding practices, producing new crop varieties with higher yields and greater capacity to thrive in marginal conditions. The CERC will work with farmers and producers in developed and developing worlds to aid in the adoption of these improved crop varieties and novel agricultural technologies .This CERC will position Canada to address food security challenges nationally and internationally, and drive changes in agricultural and food security technologies, pract ice and policy, while training the next generation of scientists in innovative systems approaches to food security problems .