Perspectives covered, underutilised crops (specifically hemp), competition for land use, obesity, the stress caused by events such as COVID and BREXIT, trust in farmers and the slow research to policy pipeline...amongst many other things.

Chairing our industry perspective panel is Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne, founder of the Genius gluten-free food brand, chair of Edinburgh New Town Cookery, and former chair of Scotland Food and Drink.

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2/2 Lena Halos from The Gates Foundation focused on livestock health & disease, & talked about the importance of vaccination.

Tom McNeilly, Director of @moredunfoundation.bsky.social, elaborated by talking about the vaccine development, Barbervax.

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She noted that we are still a long way from our goal of zero hunger. She wondered how comparative advantage played into that and considered the impacts of biodiversity, climate change, population growth and volatile trade.

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Ian Barker @cgiar.org informed us that the name of the potato variety 'Tinyadile' means something to be proud of in Malawian, which might be one of the loveliest facts of the day!

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🥔 Colin Campbell, CEO of @hutton.ac.uk, spoke about the Hutton's research on accelerated potato breeding, which Ian Barker from @cgiar.org talked about in the African context in terms of breeding for resistance, tolerance and cooking time.

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Sylvester spoke of a new moringa product, pictured, profits from which are helping pay for a new school in Malawi.

🐟 Jules Griffin, Director of @rowettinstitute.bsky.social, spoke about the likelihood of a diet richer in seafood as we transition to #NetZero.

Sylvester Madzvova followed with an enthusiastic presentation on underutilised crops such as moringa & hemp.

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Wrapping up the evening’s speeches, Iain Baxter, CEO of Scotland Food & Drink, spoke about consumer choice, noting that people want to eat & drink food from where they’re from.

He also celebrated Stockan's Oatcakes and Growers Garden who were at the reception.

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Scotland’s agriculture and food & drink sector was highlighted by @mairigougeon.bsky.social who emphasised that food is part of our heritage and culture, and sits at the centre of many of our relationships. Food security underpins this.

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@emmaharpermsp.bsky.social, who sponsored the event, spoke about how #FoodSecurity25 was particularly important to her due to her work on the national Good Food Nation Plan - www.gov.scot/publications...