Margaret, along with Stephen Flack, leads the Agricultural Crop Characterisation team delivering Seed Certification in England and Wales, and UK DUS (Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability) testing of combinable crops, sugar beet, fodder kale and ornamental species as contracted by Defra and APHA - the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
She represents the UK interests at the UPOV (International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) Technical Working Party for Agricultural Crops (UPOV TWA) and the UPOV Technical Working Group for Testing Methods and Techniques (UPOV TWM), and is currently leading a sub-group of the Technical Committee that is reviewing the format and content of UPOV Test Guidelines.
Margaret also provides technical support to the Secretariat and members of the OECD Seed Schemes in NIAB’s role as Co-ordinating Centre.
Margaret is a fully trained seed crop inspector for UK agricultural species and has delivered training for crop inspectors (new and established) across all species groups (herbage, pulses, cereals, oilseeds and miscellaneous). She has also provided barley variety grain identification training to commercial clients including those from the malting industry.
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