The conference is organised jointly by the British Society of Animal Sciences (BSAS), BBSRC Animal Science Forum, the UK Branch of the World's Poultry Science Association (WPSA) and the Association for Veterinary Teaching and Research Work.

The deadline for the submssion of papers is 31 October 2010.

World food demand is predicted to double by 2050 caused by a population increase to nine billion globally and changes in eating patterns. This will bring greater demand for livestock products but our ability to increase food production is constrained by a number of factors, including husbandry, economics, nutrition, disease, the environment and food safety. This conference will strive to develop food security strategies to which industry can respond as well to identify future priorities for agricultural research and development that impact on food security issues. It will thus be relevant to commercial and research scientists, those working in the agricultural and food industry, advisors, vets, lead farmers and policymakers.

Keynote speakers include: Professor Sir John Beddington, UK Government Chief Scientist - Food Security in a Climate Change World; and Professor Marion Dawkins, Oxford University - Gordon Memorial Lecture.

Themes

The themes of the conference are as follows:

1. Production of Food
   Mitigating climate change effects, animals vs plants as a source of food, application of new technologies, local vs global production, making best use of available nutrients are key issues for production.
2. Economics of Food Production
   Economics is a main driver of agricultural production but society needs to 'value' increasingly relevant factors such as emissions, land use, biofuels environmental impact of carbon and nitrogen.
3. Nutrition and Safety
   Nutrition properties and the safety of animal foods are increasingly important issues to human health and the well-being of man
4. Impact of Animal Disease
   Changing patterns of endemic and epidemic diseases means better knowledge and improved strategies are vital. Rapid and accurate diagnostic tools combined with a strong understanding of pathology are required for effective disease surveillance programmes.
5. Knowledge Transfer
   Effective KT from teacher to student and scientist to industry and policymakers is essential if the veterinary and animal sciences are to continue to contribute to Improving animal production and health. Demonstrating effective use of innovative KT is vital if new technologies are to be adopted.

Industry Day

One day of the conference will feature a series of talks targeted at those operating in the commercial sector. These will include talks that update advisors and producers on science and its impact that is relevant to them in responding to food security issues.

This conference brings together the British Society of Animal Science, the BBSRC Animal Science Forum, the World Poultry Science Association (UK Branch) and the Association for Veterinary Teaching & Research Work (AVTRW). There will also be a series of unique keynote papers and joint sessions that highlights the necessity of an interactive and multidisciplinary approach to strategies for food security issues. Parallel sessions will cover specialist areas of animal and veterinary science that have impact in the livestock industry on the environment and on food security.

This is the UK's Premier Conference on Animal Science and delegates will include commercial and research scientists, economists, opinion formers, government policy makers, advisors and those who influencing future agricultural research and development or translating research into practice.

Further information is available from the BSAS by email [email protected] or on-line [click here].