Waitrose working to encourage sustainable food production
Written by: Sam Cusworth. The use of plastics in agriculture is well established. Within the UK, plastics are used for a range of agricultural applications, ranging from propagation trays to greenhouse covers. However, the use of plastic in the UK agricultural system is poorly documented. Existing estimates are outdated by a decade and are crudely […]
Written by Nick Buck: Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) is a fruit fly native to S.E. Asia, capable of causing yield reductions by ovipositing in soft and stone fruit. Insect exclusion mesh is one method of control which acts as a protective barrier, inhibiting entry of SWD into the crop, reducing egg laying in the fruit […]
Written by Catherine Walsh. Upon starting my second year as a WCTP student, it was time for me to start thinking about a non-project related work placement. Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to think about it too long before the ideal position presented itself. I had already decided that a local, weekly position would […]
I’m Chris Wyver, and my PhD project at the University of Reading aims to understand whether flowering dates of fruit trees and flight dates of their pollinators are remaining in sync in the changing climate. Historically, flowers and pollinators were well matched in time, however, recent evidence suggests that trees are flowering earlier than their […]
Written by Edward Hill-King: Today potatoes are regarded as the fourth most important crop in the world and stand as a staple of cuisines across the globe. But behind this abundant food is a long journey across continents and seas and a history as old as civilisation. Potatoes were first cultivated by humans in the Andean […]
Written by Patrick Skilleter. The issues associated with compacted soil have been well known for many years now, and whilst efforts are made to reduce the amount of soil compaction and the chances of it forming, the problem continues to plague cropland. Understanding how compaction can occur on cropland, its effects, and how to use this […]
Written by Lucy Crowther. Nematodes are a hugely diverse group of microscopic, unsegmented threadworms that are found all over the globe. Although harmless to humans, these nematodes are used for organic biological pest control in our vegetable patches. While some nematodes are serious pests in their own right, such as the potato cyst nematode, other species […]
Written by: Jamie Pike. Over the past week, I have had several conversations about classification and taxonomy and something I have become quite familiar with throughout my PhD are the challenges surrounding banana and Fusarium classification. My PhD focuses on developing diagnostic tools for the disease Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc) […]
Congratulations to WCTP Student Kontantinos Tsiolis who, in recognition of his excellent work and application in the field of horticulture, was one of only three students to be awarded The Worshipful Company of Fruiterers’ Student Prize for 2021.
Written by Dominic Hill: My PhD project – investigating the effects of drought on potato phenotypes – involves the use of a very large, very heavy, multispectral imaging sensor. This sensor weighs around 150 kg and is, for all intents and purposes, a totally immovable object. Thus, I am unable to conduct my research on potato […]
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