Scientists are tackling fundamental problems. One of these is population growth, with all the demands on the planet’s resources that will mean. If Professor David Pink is right, developments in crop science, building on the forethought of crop scientists in the last century, may well offer a solution to the problem of feeding the 9 billion of us likely to be alive in 2050.

He currently leads the Crop Improvement Group at Warwick carrying out a multidisciplinary crop improvement research programme in field vegetables (brassica, lettuce, leek and onion) and narcissus.

He has over 25 years experience in breeding research and his current interest is in the development of tools and resources to facilitate the improvement of economically important quantitative traits through the exploitation of natural variation found in older varieties and wild relatives of crops. His research is funded by Defra, BBSRC and industry.

David is a member of the scientific advisory committee of the British Beet Research Organisation, the Defra Plant Varieties and Seeds Tribunal panel, the production sub group of the Defra Fruit and Vegetable Task Force, the Rural Affairs Committee of the BBC, the Defra Sustainable Arable LINK project management committee and is Scientific Adviser to the Field Vegetable Panel of the HDC and a member of the BBSRC pool of expert assessors.