East of England MEP Richard Howitt visited the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) in Cambridge, on Friday 26 October, to see how EU funding is helping move innovation forward into the marketplace within the region.
NIAB TAG trials teams across the country report that they need five consecutive dry days to catch-up. It is currently fine at Cambridge (Friday 26 Oct), but it has rained again at our Sutton Scotney site this morning….
The South-West Regional NFU Board visited NIAB in Cambridge today (Wednesday 24 October). As well as a tour of the NIAB facilities, including the state-of-the-art glasshouses at the MacLeod Complex and the crop transformation laboratories, the visit also included an introduction to NIAB Innovation Farm and a discussion on NIAB TAG's ongoing work on the causes of wheat yield stagnation and the steps needed to drive yield improvement going forward, including genetics and pre-breeding research.
If not brush up on your identification skills with places still available on NIAB TAG's 'Grass and Grassland Weed ID' training course on 30 October at Duchy College and on 14 November at NIAB in Cambridge.
We're also running a 'Grass Pests and Disease ID' training course on the morning of 15 November at Cambridge.
For more information click here
Advanced Training Partnership celebrates successful Get Smart with Grass workshop
The Advanced Training Partnership (ATP Pasture) for Sustainable and Efficient Food Production recently launched their training programme at the Livestock 2012 event. The partnership consisting of the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) and Bangor University is also celebrating the success of its inaugural CPD workshop Get Smart with Grass, which took place at the end of September.
NIAB TAG has set up a task-force to investigate the 2012 yield performance issues in winter wheat, with the aim of understanding and explaining the drop in yield across much of the country as well as significant local yield variations.
Jeremy Lewis, former head of agriculture at accountants Grant Thornton, has been elected new Chairman of the NIAB Board. He succeeds Tony Pexton, who has chaired the NIAB Board for the past eight years and stands down after 11 years on the Board.
Richard MacDonald, former NFU Director-General and chair of Defra’s Better Regulation Task Force, has been elected Vice-Chairman of the NIAB Board.
The Advanced Training Partnership for Sustainable and Efficient Food Production (ATP Pasture) launched its flexible training programme at Livestock 2012 on the 4th September. The partnership is funded by BBSRC and consists of three institutions: the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Bangor University and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB).
Livestock and dairy farmers will have access to locally-relevant forage crop variety and agronomy information with the establishment of a new UK technical crop service.
Thirteen new first choice varieties have been added to the 2013 Forage Maize Descriptive List (DL) launched by BSPB and NIAB at the Livestock 2012 Event.
