Feeding the world with climate-resilient crops

Banner hidden

Facing the future with climate-ready crops.
With our sustainable beans, rice and wheat we can feed the world.

This is the future.
And it will be Sheffield made.

Off

Feeding the world with climate-resilient crops

Climate change and a rapidly increasing global population is threatening the world’s food supply.

The University of Sheffield’s Institute for Sustainable Food finds dynamic solutions to the challenges of food security and sustainability. The interdisciplinary team is developing ways to feed the world using less water.

To stay up to date with the latest world-changing advances from the University of Sheffield, sign up to receive our briefing.

The global population is expected to increase by two billion people in the next 30 years. This means more arable land, and water will be needed to produce enough food.

Most of the world’s food is grown or produced in the global South, which is where the worst effects of the climate crisis are being felt. Extreme weather damages crops, leading to global shortfalls in food production, soaring food prices and income losses.

Beans, rice and wheat are diet staples for people across the world. The Institute for Sustainable Food has found a way to grow these crops using less water to make them more resilient to higher temperatures, unpredictable rainfall and drought. This protects global food supply and the livelihoods of growers.

At the Institute for Sustainable Food the health of our food, environment and global population is at the heart of everything we do. We’re working to fully understand the complex relationships between public health, population growth and the climate, all of which are crucial to fulfilling our mission - designing a sustainable food future, for everyone.

Boosting plant yield in harsher climates

news - beans

Climate-resilient beans that reduce water usage

Beans that could use up to 40 percent less water, making them a more reliable food crop during droughts.

Beans grown with 40% less water

Wheat in a field

Wheat that can survive drought conditions

Bread wheat that has fewer stomata helps crops use water more efficiently, while maintaining yields.

Bread wheat that uses water more efficiently

A picture of one of the rice paddys in Rampur, India
A picture of one of the rice paddies in Rampur, India.

Rice with fewer stomata requires less water

High-yielding rice with reduced stomatal density helps crops to conserve water and survive higher temperatures and drought.

Rice that conserves water

Sunset over a maize field

Crops steal genes from other species to accelerate evolution

Grasses such as wheat, maize, rice and barley have been swapping genes with each other, naturally, for millennia with important implications for the sustainability and resilience of crops.

Crops that are more resistant to the effects of climate change

Researchers stood in front of agrivoltaic system

Providing energy, increasing yield and conserving water

Agrivoltaic systems provide renewable energy, conserve water and allow greater crop variety at higher yields. Crops may also be grown in locations previously unsuitable.

Producing energy and increasing crop yield