Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to help increase agricultural productivity.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), we fund and support interdisciplinary research linking agriculture, nutrition and health to food security, environmental sustainability, and biodiversity.
In 2023-24, BBSRC funded around £140 million on research to improve crop and livestock health and enhance food safety and nutrition, whilst reducing food loss and waste. BBSRC’s wider investments to increase agricultural productivity include the Roslin Institute’s research programmes which have contributed to an estimated ~£18.9bn GVA in 2019-20 through global productivity improvements in agriculture and aquaculture.