Toby Barber

Toby is an experienced plant scientist with a strong background in phenotyping, field trial management, and crop genetics. He has worked across cereal (wheat, oat) and legume (chickpea, lentil, soybean, faba bean) systems, as well as with subtropical ‘orphan’ species. He has extensive experience in trait measurement and selection, yield component analysis, and the development of novel growth and scoring protocols. Toby is skilled in generating populations through conventional crossing programmes and EMS mutagenesis, and in advancing material via single seed descent and bulking strategies.

Projects

Title: Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein
Duration: 2024-2026
Partners: Multiple partners, led by Imperial College London
Funding: Bezos Earth Foundation

Title: Unlocking the potential of Bambara groundnut for food security and climate resilience
Duration: October 2025
Partners: Multiple partners, led by Cambridge's Crop Science Centre (CSC)
Funding: The UK-CGIAR Centre is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Title: Cicero - Developing chickpea as a novel source of domestic UK protein
Duration: April 2023 - March 2025
Partners: NIAB, Premium Crops, Place UK, Viridian Seeds
Funding: Defra Farming Futures R&D Fund: Sustainable farm-based protein, feasibility studies

Full publication list on Google Scholar, ORCID and ResearchGate.