Funding for food supply research
31 Jul 2015 by Evoluted New Media
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) have announced funding of over £4 million to improve food supply sustainability.
The funding has been awarded to six projects that will aim to help improve research of commercially valuable crops. The projects will focus on key issues such as pests and pathogens, seed quality and resource use efficiency.
Dr Celia Caulcott, BBSRC Executive Director said: “Working with industrial partners, we have identified key areas where research is necessary to help address the challenges of a sustainable food supply. The projects’ research will help to deliver improved yields, and reduce waste, in turn benefitting both producers and consumers in the UK and worldwide.”
The investment – supported by the Horticulture and Potato Initiative (HAPI) – developed by the BBSRC, NERC and the Scottish Government aims to support high quality, industrially relevant research projects on potato and edible crops. They plan to help horticulture and potato supply chains improve their competitiveness and resilience to climate change, increase plant resistance to disease and environmental change, and create more efficient ways of farming. The six projects involve:
- £482,000 has been awarded to East Malling Research for apple replant disease research – a serious threat affecting newly planted apple trees. East Malling Research will cooperate with industry to provide detailed information about the disease.
- £841,000 has been awarded to the Sainsbury’s Laboratory and the University of Leeds for new UK potato varieties research. It will aim to combine newly engineered traits into popular potato varieties to increase their resistance to diseases and bruising.
- Funding has been awarded to John Innes Centre and the University of Exeter for development of new varieties of Brassica – genus of plants in the mustard family – with high seed vigour that are insensitive to the effects of temperature during seed production.
- £925,000 for developing integrated approaches for pest and disease control in horticultural field crops (IAPAD) has been awarded to the University of Warwick and Rothamsted Research.
- £1,024,000 has been awarded to Harper Adams University, the University of Reading and the University of Warwick for a genetic approach to improving post-harvest quality.
- £881,891 has been awarded to the University of Warwick, the University of Reading and Harper Adams University for a systems approach to disease resistance against necrotrophic fungal pathogens.
