Linda Maile has been appointed Chief Officer of the Official Seed Testing Station for England and Wales.
Currently Head of OSTS Seed Testing Laboratories based at NIAB Cambridge, Miss Maile takes over from Jane Taylor, who is stepping down after seven year’s service at the helm of the OSTS.
The UK Cereal Pathogen Virulence Survey confirms that the ‘Warrior-type’ was the dominant yellow rust race in the UK this summer, with no new races detected to date.
The mild 2013 autumn and winter conditions, and continuing favourable weather in 2014, resulted in one of the most severe yellow rust epidemics for many years. At least four different strains of the ‘Warrior-type’ race have been identified so far, all of which were very severe on many of the 2014 HGCA Recommended List varieties.
The Community Resource for Wheat Transformation is a resource for UK plant scientists to apply for their genes to be transformed into wheat free of charge, funded by the BBSRC’s Biological and Bioinformatic Resources fund (BBR).
Farmers are being encouraged to get out of the tractor and start digging to check for compaction and soil structure problems.
Shallow tillage systems are producing soils with a higher resistance to penetration which could potentially restrict rooting and the ability of the crop to fully exploit the soil profile, warns NIAB TAG.
Results from NIAB TAG’s STAR Project, now in its ninth year, have highlighted changes in soil characteristics between differing cultivation approaches in the study.
NIAB TAG’s National Agronomy Centre (NAC) initiative is an impartial platform to promote best practice for profitable, sustainable and efficient arable crop production and provides open access to research and practical information.
The NAC Open Days are a key knowledge exchange route for this provision. These free to attend events deliver a mix of indoor exhibits, seminars and field based demonstrations, providing objective information on a range of policy and agronomy issues, including variety and fungicides and weed management.
Agronomists, farmers and growers can benefit from a new training academy which will help keep people working in agricultural businesses of all sizes up to date with the latest industry technologies and techniques.
Officially launching today at Cereals, the Agri-tech Register and Training for Innovation and Skills (ARTIS) academy is unlike other training programmes currently available.
NIAB is leading a £2 million Defra-funded research project to identify the most effective practices and test potential new farming systems to increase farm productivity while reducing environmental impacts and enhancing ecosystem services.
‘Project 1 – Integrated Farm Management for improved economic, environmental and social performance’ is one of three studies forming Defra’s £4.5 million Sustainable Intensification Research Platform, known as SIP.
