With a growing population, there is an ever-increasing need for food production - but it must be sustainable. A huge future challenge is to meet the nutritional needs of humans globally while using resources (including land, water and biodiversity) in a sustainable manner. Increasingly, research indicates that this must be achieved by sustainable, ecological intensification of agriculture rather than by simply increasing synthetic inputs.

The SAFE Hub came together to address this challenge, by forming a consortium of global researchers with expertise in weed, pest and disease control, pollination services, capacity development and policy. Formed by researchers from institutions in the UK, and across the world (Africa, Asia, Latin America), it seeks to use research, training and policy to develop and implement sustainable methods of growing crops key to human health and nutrition.