Commercial strawberry yields have been doubled using Total Controlled Environmental Agriculture conditions, indicating a huge potential for utilising high quality plant material of leading everbearer varieties in new vertical farming practices, says crop research organisation NIAB.
The two-year project involves an industry consortium and will receive just over £350K. The new project will provide useful new information on the effect of cover cropping and mechanical weeding strategies on soil health. It will also lead to grower guidance on bespoke cover crop mixes to alleviate soil compaction, improve soil nutrition and control nematodes. Guidelines to support transition towards net-zero carbon emissions will be drawn up alongside this.
The Hub will provide the UK horticulture and viticulture industry with access to a new state-of-the-art research facility. It includes 2,000m² of specialist glasshouses, 14 modern polytunnels, growth rooms and cold rooms.
Crop science organisation NIAB has welcomed today’s (10th May 22) announcement in the Queen’s Speech that the UK Government will bring forward new primary legislation, The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill, to take certain precision breeding techniques out of the scope of restrictive GMO rules - where the resulting plants could have occurred naturally or through conventional breeding methods.
The projects will not only help the industry reduce its impact on climate change, helping to reduce carbon emissions, cut food waste or improve the efficiency of resources such as water and energy, but also enable food crops to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change.
NIAB has be
come the first UK crop science organisation to sign up as a knowledge partner to the global Agricultural Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM4C) initiative.
This will ensure NIAB’s pioneering research to reduce the climate impact of crop production is accessible to support international action and collaboration on this critical issue.
The Statutory Instrument cleared its final hurdle in the House of Lords late last night, having already been approved by a clear majority in the Commons.
Malling™ Fruits is urging growers to get plant orders in early for Malling™ Ace as the variety is seeing unprecedented interest – forward orders are already being made for the 2025 growing season.
Scott Raffle has been appointed to the role of Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager at NIAB EMR.
Widely known within the UK fruit industry for his previous work at ADAS, and more recently his work disseminating AHDB-funded fruit research, Scott is taking on a newly created role to improve the information flow of research results from NIAB EMR and to raise its profile within the industry.
Malling™ Fruits, the marketing brand for fruit varieties bred at NIAB EMR in Kent, saw record sales of its world-leading fruit varieties in 2021, with over 94 million plants sold.
Sales of strawberry plants headed the tally with the industry-leading June-bearer Malling™ Centenary reaching over 68 million plants alone. Raspberry variety Malling™ Bella® saw sales grow by over 50% on the previous year’s plantings.
