Weathering the ‘perfect storm’, 2019 Crawford Conference

Addressing the Agriculture, Energy, Water, Climate Change Nexus

12-13 August 2019, Canberra

The Crawford Fund’s annual conference is a highlight of Australia’s agricultural development and food security calendar. For almost 30 years we have drawn significant focus to issues worthy of global and Australian attention, and this August we continue that long proud tradition.

“The Perfect Storm” was a term coined by Sir John Beddington, the Sir John Crawford memorial address presenter when UK Chief Scientist, to describe his prediction that by 2030, food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources would threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migration as people fled from the worst-affected regions.

Now, 10 years after Sir John’s dire prediction, our 2019 conference will examine the available evidence as to whether the ‘storm’ is still on track to happen, or whether scientific, engineering and agricultural innovation and what is happening in the farmer’s field has lessened or delayed its impact.

The conference will open on 12 August with the Australian Nobel Prize Laureate, Prof Emerita Elizabeth H. Blackburn, PhD making her first address during a visit to Australia at our specially styled networking dinner. In the 2019 Sir John Crawford Memorial Address she will discuss how her lifetime’s research journey led to her broader interests in optimizing human health, including nutrition in an address titled “From Looking Down the Microscope to Looking Out the Window.”

On 13 August, our full-day event will again be in Parliament House, Canberra, and we are pleased that after nearly three decades we are able to move the event to the Great Hall.

See more here