As the world population continues to grow, the demand for increased food production similarly rises. Crop pests pose a serious threat to food production and climate change is contributing to insect prevalence and the spread of vector-borne diseases. Chemical pesticides cause direct damage to human and animal health such as cancer and other diseases, but also indirectly through polluted water and impacted plant health. These pesticides have been banned in many countries, so there is an urgency to develop safe pesticides to safeguard food security for the future. In this episode, in discussion with our host, Dr Sam Blaxland, Dr Farooq Shah explores the need to trial and develop safe alternatives to harmful pesticides using living organisms such as fungi. ABOUT OUR EXPERT Dr Farooq Shah is Co-Lead and Manager of the Natural Products Biohub, a Swansea  University collaboration with Swansea Council. He is also founder and CEO of Razbio limited, a biotech company specialising in the development of Biopesticides and smart insect pest monitoring. Dr Shah has diverse fundamental and applied research experience of biological control of insect pests and the development of novel solutions and products for environmentally friendly insect pest control.  Dr Shah is also leading a consortium of UK and Pakistan based academia, industry and policy makers to establish a biopesticide hub in Pakistan to support capacity building and biopesticide uptake in Pakistan.