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• Improving the nutritional quality of Brassicae

  Author Name: Charles Cook ed Alan Spedding Two of the talks at the recent UK Brassica Reseach Community annual meeting, including the keynote from Paul Thornalley (University of Warwick), focussed on the health benefits of Brassica vegetables. First of... Posted May 16 2013, 04:54 PM by Blog posts Select Tags... SaveCancel Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• An international vision for wheat improvement

  Author Name: BBSRC ed Alan Spedding By 2050, a 60% increase in wheat production will be needed to meet the demand of a growing population. The Wheat Initiative, an international consortium gathering public institutions and private companies, was created... Posted May 16 2013, 03:37 PM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Breeding better beer

  Author Name: Caroline Channing, Biosciences Knowledge Transfer Network, ed Alan Spedding Brewing-enthusiast Dr Chris Ridout had little idea when he applied for a BBSRC public engagement grant in 2001 that it might lead him to resurrect a Victorian beer... Posted May 15 2013, 04:05 PM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Breakthough in wheat breeding science offers greater yields

  Author Name: NIAB 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... Posted May 13 2013, 04:05 PM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Plants ‘talk’ to plants to help them grow

  Author Name: Caroline Channing, Biosciences Knowledge Transfer Network, ed Alan Spedding Having a neighbourly chat improves seed germination, according to research published in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Ecology. Even when other known... Posted May 08 2013, 02:09 PM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Geostatistics and precision farming

  Author Name: Caroline Channing, Biosciences Knowledge Transfer Network, ed Alan Spedding A new study published in Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association by University of Reading Professor Margaret... Posted May 03 2013, 01:57 PM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Horticulture, Potatoes, Livestock, Poultry, Pigs, Dairy [Edit Tags]

• Gene silencing set to boost agricultural yields

  Author Name: Murdoch University Researchers from Murdoch University have developed an environmentally friendly ‘gene silencing’ method to control Root Lesion Nematodes, plant pathogens known to reduce crop yields in major crops such as wheat... Posted May 03 2013, 09:00 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Straw-burning debate urged

  Author Name: AICC via Darlinton and Stockton Times A call for a review of the practice of straw-burning will be made at Cereals 2013. The Association of Independent Crop Consultants (AICC) says blackgrass and slug populations are probably now the two... Posted May 02 2013, 06:41 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Power grazing

  Author Name: Tom Chapman The best way to bring life back to degraded arable lands is to introduce pasture and grazing. Meet Tom Chapman, the grazing specialist who wants to bring big cattle herds back to the wheat plains of East Anglia. Pasture Promise... Posted May 01 2013, 10:40 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Livestock [Edit Tags]

• Using GM crops to mitigate acidic soils

  Author Name: William Kay, Foodsecurist Acidic soils are recognized as a major limiting factor of plant productivity in over 40% of the Earth’s arable land. The primary effect on plants is the reduced division and elongation of cells at the root... Posted May 01 2013, 06:53 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Using GM crops to overcome Weeds

  Author Name: William Kay, Foodsecurist Weeds, via competition with crops for nutrients and sunlight, are responsible for around 10% of crop yield loss annually. read more Read More... Posted Apr 30 2013, 07:50 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Straw – what is it good for?

  Author Name: AHDB ed Alan Spedding There is a significant amount of potential profit for the grower, as well as bedding or energy potential, in the millions of tonnes of straw which is currently incorporated into the soil. Straw incorporation is seen... Posted Apr 29 2013, 08:36 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Horticulture, Livestock, Energy Efficiency, Poultry, Pigs, Dairy [Edit Tags]

• Using GM crops to overcome fungal and bacterial pathogens

  Author Name: William Kay, Foodsecurist Microbial pathogens such as fungi, oomycetes, bacteria and phytoplasmas have evolved alongside plants for millions of years and thus the relationships between them are highly complex. Some of the major crop pathogens... Posted Apr 26 2013, 08:23 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Can AD Crops can be an efficient, sustainable use of land?

  Author Name: The CropSite ed Alan Spedding Ongoing projects are looking at the impact of growing more crops for bioenergy, taking into account potential alternative uses of the land - for example, whether it would be used for some form of food production... Posted Apr 25 2013, 06:33 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Anaerobic Digestion [Edit Tags]

• Can AD Crops be an efficient, sustainable use of land?

  Author Name: The CropSite ed Alan Spedding Ongoing projects are looking at the impact of growing more crops for bioenergy, taking into account potential alternative uses of the land - for example, whether it would be used for some form of food production... Posted Apr 25 2013, 06:33 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Anaerobic Digestion [Edit Tags]

• Using GM crops to improve photosynthesis

  Author Name: William Kay, Foodsecurist Plant based food production (essentially all food production) is restrained by inefficiencies in yield determining processes such as photosynthesis and micro/macronutrient uptake. Modifying these processes may be... Posted Apr 24 2013, 07:48 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Integrated Management of Orange Wheat Blossom Midge

  Author Name: Rothamsted Research Orange wheat blossom midge (OWBM) is a small insect that can be hard for farmers to detect and causes substantial losses in both crop yield and quality. Rothamsted and partners have developed an integrated management system... Posted Apr 23 2013, 03:51 PM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• The trouble with biofuels

  Author Name: Rob Bailey, Chatham House ed Alan Spedding A government-commissioned review of UK biofuel policy recommended that biofuel use should not surpass 5% of transport volumes but EU targets for 2020 would see this exceeded several times over. Agricultural... Posted Apr 16 2013, 07:19 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Energy Efficiency [Edit Tags]

• Bio-refining grass

  Author Name: Alan Spedding The Welsh Government is supporting a project which will isolate and extract sugars and other components from ryegrass and convert them into low carbon products. These will include biofuels, platform chemicals and pulp-moulded... Posted Apr 01 2013, 10:10 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Biomass, Energy Efficiency [Edit Tags]

• Hybrid wheat's comeback?

  Author Name: Bill Spiegel via Mark Sheridan @AgronomyMan Nearly 90 years after DuPont Pioneer successfully commercialized the first hybrid corn plants, the company plans to revolutionize the wheat industry in the same way. Pioneer announced its intent... Posted Mar 25 2013, 11:48 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• The search for a perennial wheat

  Author Name: RC Hayes et al This is the first study in the western world to quantify the perenniality of wheat × wheatgrass hybrids under field conditions. Over 150 hybrid lines were tested and 61% of these demonstrated some capacity to regrow post... Posted Mar 19 2013, 08:03 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• Woodfuel

  Author Name: Ecosystem Markets Task Force ed Alan Spedding There is an opportunity to bring more unmanaged woodlands into active, sustainable management for woodfuel by raising awareness of the environmental benefits of doing so, and supporting the emergence... Posted Mar 18 2013, 08:04 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Biomass, Energy Efficiency [Edit Tags]

• Waitrose look to Ryegrass to make more sustainable packaging

  Author Name: NNFCC Waitrose has partnered with two Welsh universities to deliver a research project aimed at using Welsh ryegrass to create sustainable products for the food packaging and cosmetics industries. The Sustainable Ryegrass Products (STARS... Posted Mar 14 2013, 11:31 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops [Edit Tags]

• HGCA review creates oportunities in biofuels supply chain

  Author Name: HGCA taken from Farming News Revised GHG figures, supplied by HGCA, have been approved by the European Commission (EC) and can be used by biofuel suppliers when reporting under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). From 1 April... Posted Mar 14 2013, 11:16 AM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Biomass [Edit Tags]

• Combatting counterfeit pesticides

  Author Name: Harper Adams University Recognising the threat that counterfeit pesticides pose to UK agriculture, researchers at Harper Adams University hope to produce best practice recommendations for law and regulatory enforcement agencies. Counterfeit... Posted Mar 13 2013, 12:29 PM by Blog posts Filed under: Crops, Horticulture, Potatoes [Edit Tags]