A new variety descriptive list has been created for biogas producers growing and using forage maize as a feedstock.
The British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) has launched the Biogas Maize Descriptive List for 2014 with 12 varieties listed for favourable sites and five for less favourable sites.
The Centre of Excellence for UK Farming (CEUKF), an agri-food supply-chain alliance to help UK farming address production and sustainability challenges, announced that its partnership now includes five leading UK research institutions and helps run a number of collaborative agri-food R&D projects.
Precision technology that will allow reduced herbicide use by accurately identifying and spot-spraying weeds, developed from research funded by the Horticultural Development Company (HDC), is to go into commercial production.
UK wheat yields could be boosted by up to 30% with the introduction of a new wheat bred from a wild grass species.
The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) in Cambridge has recreated the original rare cross between an ancient wheat and wild grass species that happened in the Middle East 10,000 years ago. The result is a ‘synthetic’ wheat which, when crossed with modern UK varieties, could offer new sources of yield improvement, drought tolerance, disease resistance and input use efficiency.
NIAB's synthetic wheat programme will be featured on BBC Countryfile at 6pm on 12 May, and across BBC News programmes that day, as part of a feature highlighting how plants can be adapted for the future to deal with things like an increased population, reduced space and climate change.
NIAB, Cambridge - A new £2.16m visitor centre and glasshouse facilities to showcase advances in plant genetics have been officially opened by Defra Science Minister Lord de Mauley.
The latest independent advice and research on plant breeding, varieties, crop agronomy, soils and plant innovation – covering everything a visitor to Cereals 2013 is looking for - including:
NIAB TAG is making its popular variety and seed handbook widely available to growers and industry for the first time this spring.
Formerly known as the ‘Seeds Handbook for Agronomists’ the publication is being re-launched as the ‘Variety and Seed Compendium’ for 2013.
Former Defra minister Sir Jim Paice MP has been appointed to the NIAB Board.
NIAB Board Chairman Jeremy Lewis said:
Harper Adams University (HAU) has won the NIAB TAG Agronomy Cup, a new annual national winter wheat trial competition aimed solely at agriculture students.
Ben Gooding, Rob Hosker, Alex McCormack and Howard Tratt from HAU’s FdSc Agriculture course beat students from Easton College, Newcastle University, The Royal Agricultural College, Lincoln University, Sparsholt College and fellow students from HAU’s BSc Agriculture course to take the 2012 title and a £2,000 cash prize for HAU.
