Press release

NIAB chief executive Dr Tina Barsby welcomed the publication today of the long-awaited European Commission study into the regulatory status of Novel Genomic Techniques (NGT) such as gene editing, and in particular the study’s conclusions that NGT products have the potential to contribute to sustainable food systems with plants more resistant to diseases, environmental conditions and climate change effects, food products with higher nutritional qualities such as healthier fatty acid content, and reduced need fo

The names for 14 new pesticide active ingredients have been approved by the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) and added to BCPC’s Online Pesticide Manual.

The ISO’s Technical Committee of Common Names for Pesticides assign shorter, more distinctive, active ingredient names than their original chemical name for newly approved pesticides.

The investment will transform plant-based scientific research facilities across the South East and strengthen the competitiveness of Britain’s horticulture, food and drink industries.

csfbSMART – ‘Sharing Management and Agronomy Research Tools’ - has been set-up to test management methods and tools for use against the pest on UK farms, with oilseed rape growers provided with information on how to implement and assess these management strategies over the next three years.

Welcoming the Government’s long-awaited consultation on plans to regulate the products of precision breeding techniques in the same way as conventional breeding methods, rather than as GMOs, leading scientists and cross-party politicians have highlighted the potential opportunities of these advances to support more sustainable farming and food production systems.

BCPC has relaunched its Online UK Pesticide Guide platform with a host of new features including an easy-to-use product search and comparison tool.

“We felt it was really time to provide an updated picture of wild oat herbicide resistance, and also a general picture of where we are with wild oats currently across the UK, so we asked for wild oat samples to be submitted after harvest, along with a detailed questionnaire, ” said NIAB’s weed biology specialist, John Cussans.

There are two species of wild oats that are weeds in the UK – the common wild oat and the winter wild oat.

In a landmark discovery for global wheat production an international consortium of crop researchers, including NIAB in the UK, have sequenced the genomes for 15 important wheat varieties used in breeding programmes around the world.

The results will enable plant scientists and breeders to much more quickly identify influential genes for improved yield, pest resistance and other important crop traits.

Building on a wealth of existing investment in UK wheat R&D, including the UK Research and Innovation BBSRC-funded Designing Future Wheat programme (DFW), the newly formed IWYP – European Winter Wheat Hub will accelerate research discoveries from the UK and globally into commercial plant breeding.

A public-private partnership, the IWYP - European Winter Wheat Hub will combine novel traits discovered by collaborative international teams into a range of high performing European winter wheat genetic backgrounds for assessment and use in winter wheat breeding programmes.

NIAB has launched a new molecular diagnostics service on becoming a partner of the AgriTech Centre Crop Health and Protection (CHAP).

NIAB will host the new service at its Cambridge site, for use by researchers in both commercial and academic organisations.