Press release

Speaking at a Westminster Forum event today (17 June) entitled ‘Next steps for gene edited foods in England’, NIAB chief executive Professor Mario Caccamo explained that, after 10 months’ scrutiny and debate, both Houses of Parliament had approved the Precision Breeding Act in March 2023, providing the legal framework for a faster and more streamlined process to regulate the use of precision breeding techniques such as CRISPR gene editing in agriculture.

Dr Dougherty brings 30 years of scientific, operational and leadership experience in the UK research and innovation sector. He is currently the COO of the Wellcome Sanger Institute and has previously held similar roles at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the Royal Statistical Society.

The NIAB Vine Club will bridge the gap between viticulture plant science and practical application, ensuring members will be the first to benefit from emerging, innovative research.

For all visitors to NIAB at Cereals the winter wheat variety demonstration plots are the main highlight. This year there are 32 varieties either already established on the AHDB Recommended List or candidates, with differences in disease susceptibility between the varieties clearly evident on the untreated plots. NIAB’s variety specialists are available to talk and advise on, not only winter wheat, but variety choice options in all cereals, oilseeds and break crops.

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NIAB FRUIT 2024 ANNUAL REVIEW

Published in print and digital format, visitors can take copies from any NIAB stand at fruit and horticultural trade shows across this year, including the Fruit Focus event at East Malling on 10th July, as well as being available at NIAB offices in East Malling and Cambridge. View or download a digital copy at niab.com.

Free and available to all, the online Guide, hosted by the crop research organisation NIAB, contains a vast volume of best practice information on commercial apple production.

The Precision Orchard Management for the Environment (POME) project is a four-year, £4.5 million project that will see cutting-edge technologies used to analyse fruit trees in fine detail, allowing inputs to be targeted in a way that has never been seen before in UK orchards.

The project will focus on seven plant species of high relevance to UK researchers: arabidopsis, barley, oat, oilseed rape, rice, tomato and wheat. The aim is to integrate, analyse and add value to existing plant population DNA sequence data in a user-friendly, browsable genomic context, ultimately opening up opportunities in crop research innovation.

With a career spanning over 30 years in food and agritech innovation, Ms Malarkey has held senior research and development roles in multinational businesses in the UK, Switzerland, The Netherlands and the USA. These include Chief Innovation Officer at Royal DSM, Head of Global Research and Development at Syngenta and various non-executive director and scientific advisory roles in established global companies and start-ups.

In presenting the awards at this year’s BCPC Congress event in Harrogate, BCPC Advisory Board Member Jim Orson said: “Both recipients, in different organisations, are at the very centre of training and support for Integrated Pest Management withinthe sector, carefully and brilliantly ensuring that farmers receive informed advice on managing their crops. Not only do they do that, but they also give of their time to support other industry initiatives.”