News article

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.

A team of agriculture students from Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) are the winners of the 2017 NIAB Agronomy Cup and the title ‘the best student wheat growers in the country'.

NIAB EMR, in a joint UK-China research programme, has discovered several strains of the strawberry disease Verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae), belonging to two different groups, that act in very different ways. The results are already being used by plant breeders in the development of a new generation of wilt resistant varieties.

NIAB is part of a new study on a wheat stem rust sample found in the UK in 2013, the findings of which have been published by the John Innes Centre (see below). NIAB’s input in testing the unusual disease was supported by the H2020 project EMPHASIS (Grant Number 634179) which is exploring ways to control a wide range of alien and emerging pest and disease threats in Europe.