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Seeds in Space: Creating 'cosmic crops’ for food security and climate change adaptation

27 March 2023, Video Message by Dr. QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Seeds in Space: Creating ‘cosmic crops’ for food security and climate change adaptation.

Language English

Duration 3m3s

Edit Version Full Mix

Video Type Video Message

Date 03/27/2023 12:00 AM

File size 225.44 MB

Unique ID UF16DRH

Production details and shotlist

UNFAO Source FAO Video

Script Seeds in Space: Creating ‘cosmic crops’ for food security and climate change adaptation
Video Message
By
Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
27 March 2023
1. By 2050, the world’s population will reach about 10 billion.
2. We will need to produce more food to feed a growing population and the new demands from
new middle class.
3. Better Production and Better Nutrition will be key.
4. And better seeds are critical for the world’s millions of smallholder farmers to produce more
with less under increasingly challenging growing conditions.
5. For this reason, we need to find innovative tools in the tool box, through science and
technology.
6. We know well the big potential of genetics and breeding to improve crops.
7. Spontaneous mutations are the bases of evolution and, together with chromosomal crossovers,
they have driven crop domestication and crop improvement for centuries.
8. This is where the application of nuclear science and technology has strong potential.
9. For the first time, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in collaboration
with the International Atomic Energy Agency, sent plant seeds to space to study the generation
of novel genetic diversity from exposure to harsh space environments for better adaptation to
biotic and abiotic stresses under the climate change on Earth.
10. FAO has been working closely with the IAEA since 1964 to contribute to sustainable food
security and safety by using nuclear techniques and biotechnology.
11. Our partnership has indeed reached new heights!
12. Once those seeds are back on Earth we will be able to see the effects of cosmic radiation,
microgravity and extreme temperatures, and compare them with those induced in our joint
laboratories.
13. This ground-breaking experiment can help develop crops that are able to adapt to climate
change and boost global food security.
14. I am very proud of our partnership with the IAEA - bearing fruits both on Earth for years, and
now with seeds that travelled through space.
15. I am in awe of the resilience of nature, and excited by the endless benefits that space
exploration can bring to transform our agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive,
more resilient and more sustainable across the globe.
16. Space breeding of crop varieties can provide new opportunities to achieve the 4 Betters: better
production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life – leaving no one behind.
17. I wish you a successful meeting.
18. Thank you.

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