Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Planta https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-019-03229-9 MEETING REPORT Orphan crops at the food for future conference Antonella Succurro 1,4,5  · Mara Schuler‑Bermann 2  · Rumen Ivanov 3  · Richard Jacoby 1  · Stanislav Kopriva 1  · Timothy O. Jobe 1 Received: 1 November 2018 / Accepted: 30 June 2019 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract In her 1929 essay A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Wolf famously wrote, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” While this popular quote is perhaps not the most inspiring, it is an elegant reminder that food and the cultural practices surrounding food are paramount for our wellbeing. However, in our quest to feed a growing global popula- tion, we have become focused on increasing the production of a few staple crops and overlooked hundreds or thousands of locally and regionally important crops that may represent the future of agriculture. The growing interest in identifying and developing promising new crops and novel food sources prompted the 1st Cologne Conference on Food for Future, which took place between the 5 and 7th of September 2018 at the Rautenstrauch-Joest museum in Cologne, Germany. It offered a unique platform for researchers, journalists, politicians, and entrepreneurs to present and discuss their views, visions, and concerns on the topics of Food Security. This interdisciplinary meeting acted as a stage to cover diverse aspects of crop sci- ence, food research, and food production in the context of global food and nutrition security. Three sessions accommodated scientific contributions on the topics of “Orphan Crops”, “Functional food”, and “Innovative food sources and production systems”, and two public events (a public lecture and a plenary discussion) engaged the citizens with informative discus- sions on relevant and mediatic topics. With delegates from Africa, Europe, and the United States of America, the conference aimed at building bridges between different communities through scientific exchange. Introduction As defined by the FAO on the World Food Summit in 1996 (Fresco 1996), food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The 1st Cologne Conference on Food for Future was an initiative of the ‘Food Security’ Competence Area at the University of Cologne (https://www.portal.uni-koeln.de/food-security.html?&L=1) and the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), whose mission is to promote interdisciplinary research and increase awareness for the multifaceted challenges of food security. The motivation for the conference stems from an increasing interest in identifying and developing promis- ing new crops and novel food sources to meet the caloric and nutritional demands of a rising human population. The organizers—Stanislav Kopriva, Lars Niehaus, Rich- ard Jacoby, Timothy O. Jobe, Antonella Succurro, Cordula Jörgens (University of Cologne), Andreas Weber, Mara Schuler-Bermann, and Melanie Sapp (Heinrich-Heine Uni- versity Düsseldorf)—brought together scientists and experts in the fields of plant research, agronomy, geology, economy, as well as law and politics from across the globe. The event presented a platform for exchanging views, ideas, solutions, and strategies to meet the increasing food demand, poverty, and malnutrition in the situation of a rapid global popula- tion growth. * Timothy O. Jobe tjobe@uni-koeln.de 1 Botanical Institute, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47b, Cologne, Germany 2 Developmental and Molecular Plant Biology, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany 3 Institute of Botany, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany 4 Life and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany 5 West German Genome Center, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany