Help the James Hutton Institute shape the future of soft fruit research

Did you know products developed at the James Hutton Institute and its forebears are familiar names on supermarket shelves, including popular raspberry varieties such as Glen Ample and Glen Lyon? Also, were you aware of the fact that 50% of the world’s blackcurrant crop was developed by scientists in Dundee?

Now you have a chance to help shape the future of soft fruit research: our commercial subsidiary, James Hutton Limited, is seeking to gather opinions from soft fruit growers, marketers and retailers about the kind of tools and models that would be useful to them to support decision making throughout the growing season and ultimately, maximise the most desirable outcomes at harvest.  In the long term, this will help to support wider, Innovate UK funded and AHDB-supported research.

If you are a grower yourself, please complete JHL’s 3-minute survey or, if you have any grower contacts, please share this news story with them. The more responses we get, the more we can support the needs of berry growers with the correct scientific research and tools.

Dr Jonathan Snape, Head of James Hutton Limited, said: “We woud like to know what sort of tools would help growers monitor their crops throughout the growing season to enable them to predict and possibly alter the outcomes of the season – would growers consider it useful if they had predictive tools such as an app or a model to support decision making? We’re particularly interested in views on utilising technology in the soft fruit industry.”

The deadline for completing the survey is 5pm on Monday 13th November – all responses are anonymous and will be shared with the industry when available.

More information from: Bernardo Rodriguez-Salcedo, Media Manager, James Hutton Institute, Tel: +44 (0)1224 395089 (direct line), +44 (0)344 928 5428 (switchboard) or 07791 193918 (mobile).

Article source: James Hutton Institute