Thank you for your interest. Future Food Beacon closed in July 2023 and these pages will not be further updated. We thank all those involved in making the Beacon a success. The University of Nottingham Food Systems Institute launched in Aug 2023 please visit their webpages for more information.

Crop diversification unit

To meet the needs of an ever-growing population, we must consider sustainable production, processing and availability of a diverse range of plant and animal species, including those that have previously been under-utilised or over-looked.

Climate change, with its increasingly unpredictable weather patterns and rising temperatures is already impacting agricultural harvests. To prepare for the future, we need to grow new agricultural crops, increase genetic diversity, and improve plant breeding. Our Crop Diversification Unit is focused on this challenge. Centring under-utilised crops like foxtail millet, Bambara groundnut, and others, our researchers are pushing the boundaries towards new foods.