Queen’s University awarded £500,000 to tackle global food fraud
Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast have received £500,000 to investigate global food fraud and help prevent criminal activity within the industry. The two year project will investigate vulnerabilities in food supply chains and evaluate effective ways to improve consumer trust in food and its producers. Queen’s was awarded one of only five grants from the […]
Seeds keep vital much longer when stored without oxygen
If seed breeding companies, gene banks and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on Spitsbergen should store plant seeds under oxygen-poor conditions, it would be possible to store them for much longer while still maintaining their germination capacity. This is indicated by research carried out by seed physiologists from Wageningen UR and seed experts from the […]
Evolution of a novel organelle in insects
A Toyohashi Tech researcher in cooperation with researchers at RIKEN, Iwate Medical University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and the National Institute of Genetics, has revealed that aphids synthesize a protein from a gene laterally acquired from bacteria, and the produced protein is transported to an obligate intracellular bacterial symbiont. This is the first report of […]
New research shows diet key to a sustainable food system
New research from the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) demonstrates that if we want a more sustainable food system, we need to change what it is we eat. The results of the study, published in a report launched today – People, Plate and Planet – show that we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our […]
Contribution of the countryside is under valued says Prince’s Countryside Fund
Rural and “opportunity” are words not often associated together, but with 5.5 million people employed in the rural economy, and domestic food and drink contributing £22 billion to the UK economy, The Prince’s Countryside Fund says it’s time to rethink how we view the value of the countryside. Recent research conducted by The Prince’s Countryside […]
Agricultural Shows: What’s the impact?
Greg Thomas, a postgraduate researcher at Aberystwyth University, will be investigating this year’s Royal Welsh Agricultural Show to see the impact it has on modern day rural Wales. The 2014 Royal Welsh Agricultural Show will see the launch of an exciting PhD research project entitled “Agricultural Shows: Driving and Displaying Rural Change”, and mark the […]
Professor helps Cambodia’s Agri-Business sector improve knowledge transfer
Professor Yanqing Duan, Director of Business and Information Systems Research Centre, has visited China and Cambodia as part of a research project on improving Cambodia’s information and knowledge transfer in the agriculture sector using mobile internet technology. The ten-month project is part of the AgriTT programme, funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, and […]
New international collaboration to protect the world’s crops
Experts from the UK and India are working together to identify and develop novel environmentally-sustainable strategies to control plant pests, known as plant-parasitic nematodes or eelworms, to ensure global food production and security. This project is funded by the UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI). Plant-parasitic nematodes are thought to cause annual losses to crops […]
New boost for research and development in biobased performance materials
Some three to six million euros will be available in the Netherlands for research and development into biobased performance materials (BPM) over the next four years. The team in charge of the Top Sector for Chemicals (defined by the Dutch government as an investment priority) has approved a continuation of the BPM R&D programme which […]
