Waitrose working to encourage sustainable food production
A passion for sustainable supply chains and the desire to do something useful, brought Becky Swinn to Lancaster University. Now her research project comparing the carbon footprint of British, Dutch and Kenyan cut flowers has won the prize for the Best Collaborative Project at the Lancaster Environment Centre. But, like many others, she wasn’t sure […]
Lancaster University is to strengthen its international links with strategic partners in Argentina through a new fellowship programme The university is to receive support through the new UUKi Rutherford Fund Strategic Partner Grant scheme, which is funded by the UK Department for Business Energy and international Strategy through the £118 million Rutherford Fund, which aims to attract global talent […]
Lightning may strike less often in future across the globe as the planet warms, a scientific study suggests. The research forecasts a 15% drop in the average number of lightning flashes worldwide by the turn of this century, if global temperatures are in the top range of forecasts.
Three years ago, biotechnologists demonstrated in field trials that they could increase the productivity of maize by introducing a rice gene into the plant that regulated the accumulation of sucrose in kernels and led to more kernels per maize plant. They knew that the rice gene affected the performance of a natural chemical in maize, […]
Millions of dollars are due to be paid out to small-scale farmers in Zambia affected by a recent severe dry spell, following the introduction of a new government insurance scheme powered by University of Reading science. Satellite-based rainfall estimates for Africa produced by the University’s TAMSAT research group have allowed around US$2.8m to be triggered for farmers […]
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 […]
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