ST. PAUL, MINN. — Anne Bridges of AACC International and Ray Shillito of Bayer CropScience will lead a pre-meeting “hot topic” session on how to feed the future world population as part of the AACC International annual meeting set for Sept. 29-Oct. 2 in Albuquerque, N.M.

The session, “Sustainability, genetics, and future cultivars,” will provide an overview of current breeding technologies for grains and oilseeds, new crops, potential food benefits, and the corresponding updates in molecular detection methods to manage authentication in the food supply chain.

“This conversation is one that must be had with all who play a role in the production and implementation of the food chain,” said Ms. Bridges, who planned the session. “This is an international issue that has an intrinsic impact on every person on the planet, and right now there is a gap in information within the food industry on this topic. The session will inform attendees about where the conversation currently stands, the perspectives of various contributors to the food chain, as well as enable discussion between attendees and the session speakers.”

The session will feature several speakers discussing various aspects of the broader conversation.

Robert Stupar, assistant professor in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota, will address the range of modern plant breeding methods, while John Pitkin, agronomic traits pipeline lead on the wheat technology team at Monsanto, will discuss new approaches to changing plant and food composition.

Other scheduled speakers include: Mitch Tuinstra, professor of plant breeding and genetics at Purdue University, who will discuss ways to increase crop yield under real conditions to better feed the world; Randal Giroux,  of corporate food safety in the quality and regulatory division at Cargill, who will identify preservation and purity methods within the supply chain; and Jannavi Srinivasan, a chemist with the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, who will speak to the compositional analysis of food derived from modern breeding technology.