Waitrose working to encourage sustainable food production
China’s North Plain is one of the country’s most important – and densely populated – agricultural regions, producing crops such as corn, cereals, vegetables and cotton. A research project led by the James Hutton Institute and China Agriculture University aims to support smallholder farmers in the area through precision agriculture techniques.
Scientists have found diamondback moth (DBM) caterpillars surviving in UK Brassica crops this winter and are recommending growers check their own crops for the pest now. Previously considered a migratory pest, recent research from AHDB indicated that diamondback moths could be surviving UK winters. AHDB’s Dawn Teverson, and Rosemary Collier from Warwick Crop Centre have […]
A new facility to assist advances in crop science is taking shape in the Norfolk countryside. The field experimental station at Church Farm, Bawburgh, will allow scientists at the John Innes Centre to carry out ground-breaking research in crop improvements. Bringing together lab and field research in one location will further research in understanding how […]
By Jessica Fostvedt (Waitrose CTP Student) Survival demands that all living things must adapt to their environment or perish. However, an alternative strategy is for an organism to alter the environment to suit its own needs. For fungal plant pathogens, the surrounding plant tissue provides a generous home… and one that is just as prone […]
Evidence of significant barriers to women’s careers in Scottish agriculture has been presented at the Scottish Parliament by social researchers from Newcastle University and the James Hutton Institute. The presentation, sponsored by MSPs Emma Harper and Gail Ross, featured an introduction by co-chairs of the Women in Agriculture taskforce, Cabinet Secretary Fergus Ewing and Joyce […]
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is committing £5m to fund Britain’s next generation of agricultural experts in an effort to overhaul the industry’s “fragmented” innovation and skills pipeline. It will plough the funds into supporting PhD university students over the next five years, following its recent report which identified a UK productivity gap […]
A new research centre that will support communities threatened by climate change was launched at the University of Reading by former Irish President and UN human rights high commissioner Mary Robinson. The Reading Centre for Climate and Justice is dedicated to putting justice at the heart of understanding the problems caused by climate change, and finding solutions […]
A series of workshops is bringing together African researchers, businesses and policy makers to explore how knowledge exchange could help provide safe, sustainable water. Lancaster University staff delivered the first of five week-long Knowledge Exchange workshops, to initiate the start of the £7M RECIRCULATE project, supported by the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund. RECIRCULATE aims to […]
…And black plastic will not be used for Waitrose meat, fish, fruit and veg by end of this year. Waitrose has pledged to not sell any own label food in black plastic beyond 2019 – this is the earliest date a supermarket has committed to removing black plastic from its shelves. Reducing the use of […]
Provisional figures for global average near-surface temperatures confirm that last year, 2017, was the warmest year on record without the influence of warming from El Niño. When viewed alongside 2015 and 2016 – both of which were dominated by a significant El Niño – last year was the second- or third-warmest year for annual global temperatures since […]
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