The Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, has listed plant breeding among the top 10 innovations in the history of food and drink.

Plant breeding came eighth in a shortlist of 20 selected by a panel of Royal Society Fellows and then voted on by Fellows of the Society and experts in the food and drink industry. Each innovation was judged on four criteria: accessibility, productivity, aesthetics and health.

The full Royal Society top 20 list of food and drink innovations is as follows:

1.    Refrigeration

2.    Pasteurisation / sterilisation

3.    Canning       

4.    The oven                                                      

5.    Irrigation                                                       

6.    Threshing machine / combine harvester  

7.    Baking                                                       

8.    Selective breeding / strains          

9.    Grinding / milling                      

10.  The plough

11.  Fermentation

12.  The fishing net

13.  Crop rotation

14.  The pot

15.  The knife

16.  Eating utensils

17.  The cork

18.  The barrel

19.  The microwave oven

20.  Frying

Welcoming the Royal Society initiative, BSPB chief executive Dr Penny Maplestone said it was vitally important to highlight the role of science and technology in providing a secure, wholesome and affordable supply of food and drink:

“This poll demonstrates how scientific innovation has played a key role in improving people’s lives and shaping what we eat, from technologies to preserve, process and cook food to the underpinning farming practices involved in its production. It is encouraging to see the contribution of plant breeding recognised by such a distinguished group.

“But the drive for improvement and innovation is never-ending. Securing our future food supply, in the face of rapid population growth, climate change and finite natural resources of land, water and fossil fuel, is possibly the greatest challenge facing our generation.

“The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) predicts that food production must increase by at least 70% over the next 40 years. But with limited land available to bring into production, the only realistic prospect of delivering sustainable food security is through increased productivity on land that is already farmed.  

“By delivering higher-yielding, more climate resilient crop varieties, resistant to the emergence of new and more virulent pests and diseases, advances in plant breeding will underpin the ‘sustainable intensification’ of agriculture required to secure our future food supplies. 

“We therefore look forward to a future in which the significance of agricultural science and technology, and plant genetic innovation in particular, will undoubtedly increase,” said Dr Maplestone.