Dale Sanders on feeding the world

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2020

⏱️ 34 minutes

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Summary

Professor Dale Sanders has spent much of his life studying plants, seeking to understand why some thrive in a particular environment while others struggle. His ground breaking research on their molecular machinery showed how plants extract nutrients from the soil and store essential elements. Since plants can’t move, their survival depends on these responses. In 2020, after 27 years at the University of York, he became the Director of the John Innes Centre in Norwich, one of the premier plant research institutions in the world. Meeting the food needs of a growing global population as the climate changes is a major challenge. And, Dale says, it’s not only about maximising yields. We need crops that are more resilient and more nutritious. Drought resistant crop varieties, for example. And zinc-rich white rice. Dale talks to Jim about how plant science is helping to feed the world in a sustainable way and why plant scientists don’t always get the recognition they deserve. Producer: Anna Buckley

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan
0:05.2	I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy
0:10.2	podcast at the BBC. It's a bit of a dream job really.
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0:29.6	from satire to silly shocking to soothing profound to just general pratting about. So if you
0:36.2	fancy a laugh, find your next comedy at BBC Sounds.
0:40.3	Hello, today on the Life Scientific, I'm talking to the plant scientist Dale Sanders
0:44.8	we chat about how plants manage to get what they need from the soil and how on
0:50.2	earth we're going to feed the world in a sustainable way as the global population grows
0:55.2	and the climate changes. Food for thought I think.
0:58.6	BBC Sounds, Music, radio podcasts.
1:03.6	My guest today has spent his life studying plants,
1:07.0	understanding how they work right down
1:09.0	at the level of individual molecules.
1:11.9	Dale Sanders' groundbreaking research revealed the molecular mechanisms that enables plants
1:17.5	to respond to their environment and to store essential elements, and he found a way to make crops more nutritious.
1:25.3	In 2010, after 27 years at York University, he became the director of one of the Premier
1:31.2	Plants Research Institutions in the world, the John Innes Center in Norwich.
1:36.0	Meeting the food needs of a growing world population in a changing global climate is a major challenge,
	...

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