Webinar: Salt-tolerant crops - A solution for sustaining food production in a changing climate?

Are salt-tolerant crops one of the keys to securing our food supply in a world where sea level rise, floods, and droughts will challenge food production? Hear about our experiences with saline farming in the SalFar projekt.

Climate change is and will increasingly create challenges for a stable food production around the world. The biggest challenges will be water. Rising sea levels and more frequent floods will push salt water further inland affecting farmlands, and droughts will restrict the availability of freshwater for irrigation - occationally even in climates that will generally see more rainfall.

In the SalFar project we have looked at saline farming and salt-tolerant crops as one possible solution to this problem. If we can grow our plants in saline conditions, we can sustain food production despite these challenges. But what does this mean? Hear about our experience with growing various crops under saline conditions - both well-known crops and new edible plants (halophytes). Maybe these are the new "superfoods" or interesting ingredients for nordic cuisine?  

Program

13.00 Welcome by Louise Krogh Johnson, Food & Bio Cluster Denmark

13.10 'Food production in salt affected soils, why and how, an introduction' by prof. Pier Vellinga, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

13.35 'Salinity effects on the growth of arugula and ice-plant' by Thayna Mendanha, Postdoc, Aarhus University

13.50 'Effects of saline farming on the nutritional and health properties of plants' by Stefana Darvariu, MSc Human Nutrition from Copenhagen University  

14.05 'Salinity effect on the taste of three different crops' by Konstantina Sfyra, Sensory Lab Manager, Aarhus University

14.20 Quinoa as a salt tolerant crop - What are the benefits and possibilities of growing quinoa? by Sven-Erik Jacobsen from Quinoa Quality

14.35 'Sustainability and business models for saline farming' by Dorte Storper, Sagro.

14.50 'Resources on saline farming available from the SalFar project' by Louise Krogh Johnson

15.00 End of webinar 

Moderator: Louise Krogh Johnson, Food & Bio Cluster Denmark

OBS: Changes in the programme may occur.