News article

A survey of the ASDA fresh produce supply chain has demonstrated the positive actions growers are taking to be good stewards of soil health, and an awareness of the long-term challenges to improving the sustainability of our soils.

Majority of ASDA suppliers in the key fresh produce categories of leafy salads, field vegetables and potatoes responded to the soil stewardship and knowledge survey, carried out by crop research organisation NIAB, representing a significant proportion of the total UK area of crops grown.

NIAB is celebrating its long history in varieties and seeds with the largest variety demonstration area the organisation has ever staged at this year’s Cereals Event.

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NIAB is a partner in the new Ceres Agritech Knowledge Exchange Partnership, a three year collaboration between Universities of Cambridge, East Anglia, Hertfordshire, Lincoln and Reading and the research institutes John Innes Centre, Rothamsted Research and NIAB.

UK strawberry growers should encourage more hoverflies into their crops as they act as both pollinators and natural aphid predators, says horticultural researchers NIAB EMR.

NIAB EMR represented plant sciences and the fruit growing sector at the Palace of Westminster, for British Science Week 2018, this week. Two early-career scientists, Dylan Hodgkiss and Callum Martin, presented posters describing their research to MPs and invited guests at the high profile STEM for Britain event.

Congratulations to NIAB CEO Dr Tina Barsby who has been awarded an Associateship of the Royal Agricultural Societies (ARAgS).

The Associateship is in recognition of meritorious contribution to the agricultural and land-based industries of the UK and is awarded to those who can demonstrate the required high level of achievement.

Potato growers supplying McDonald’s are set to benefit from the provision of free agronomy skills training to improve crop performance and quality with the launch of the MacFry Potato Academy.

The Academy is a joint initiative between NIAB and McDonald’s UK and Ireland, in association with potato suppliers McCain Foods and Lamb Weston, aimed at the 209 farmers that supply the potatoes for McDonald's iconic French Fries at their 1,270 restaurants across the UK.

Dr Tina Barsby attended an Investiture at Buckingham Palace on 8 March 2018 to receive her OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) from The Prince of Wales, HRH Prince Charles. Dr Barsby’s OBE was announced in the 2018 New Year Honours List for services to agricultural science and biotechnology.

   
UKCPVS NEWS ISSUED BY AHDB

The Red 24 group of isolates is now established in the UK wheat yellow rust population.

NIAB is delighted to announce that Dr Keith Gardner has been appointed Programme Leader in Quantitative Genetics, responsible for the organisation’s expanding quantitative genetics and biostatistics capability.