The much-debated topic of ‘AN v Urea’ will not go away. TAG has recently updated the earlier presentation of our trial data in the context of other industry views. The presentation is available in Members’ Technical Information, Presentations.
The big freeze is just what was needed to see off the yellow rust reported as developing at several sites pre-Christmas. If not completely killed it will hopefully have been suppressed sufficiently to not bother us again for a while. Excessive winter canopies in oilseed rape crops may also have been thinned out, making TAG’s advice to its Members about autumn PGRs particularly valuable.
The Brazilian Government has used experts from the UK’s National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) to train the country’s seed testing and sampling officials to recognised international standards.
The National Institute of Agricultural Botany has awarded its Variety Cup to the onion variety Vision bred by Syngenta Seeds.
NIAB chief executive Dr Tina Barsby presented the award to Syngenta’s onion and leek product specialist Nigel Kingston and product business manager Michel Bremaud, at the UK Onion and Carrot Conference and Exhibition’s Gala Dinner in Peterborough.
UK crop researchers have significantly increased the yields of a leading anti-malaria remedy that could eventually benefit malaria sufferers worldwide.
The plant extract artemisinin comes from the wormwood plant Artemisia annua. It offers the only effective alternative to the resistance problems faced by current synthetic anti-malaria drugs world-wide.
The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) and The Arable Group (TAG) have joined forces to create a national, independent crop research and information centre.
The integrated group brings together the resources needed to support the development of improved crop varieties and inputs, to evaluate their performance and - through applied agronomy research and farmer communication - to ensure the benefits are transferred effectively into practical agriculture.
Cambridge plant scientist Alison Bentley has won the British Society for Plant Pathology’s ‘2009 best student paper’ award for her research on crown rot in wheat, a major disease in the Australian grain belt.
The National Institute of Agricultural Botany joins with members of the international plant science community to mourn the death at the weekend of Dr Norman Borlaug, renowned wheat scientist whose pioneering work in developing high-yielding wheat varieties and improved crop production systems is widely considered to have saved hundreds of millions of people from hunger in the developing world. Dr Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his achievements.
Speaking on behalf of the Institute, NIAB Chief Executive Dr Tina Barsby said:
Significant changes in variety market share are expected this autumn following confirmation of the final HGCA Recommended List (RL) oilseed rape trials results.
The national crop has long been dominated by the conventional varieties Castille and ES Astrid and the hybrids Flash and Excalibur.
The National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) has welcomed calls from a cross-party group of MPs for the UK to invest an extra £100m in public sector agricultural research.
The demand for additional research funding is one of the main recommendations of a food security report issued today by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
The report focuses on the challenges for the UK of meeting a required doubling of global food production by 2050, while at the same time coping with climate change and new pest and disease pressures.
