It provides the backbone to the fresh produce industry, but horticultural research will “live or die” in the UK depending on whether it can showcase what it can achieve in the years to come.
The research community has the potential to be a force to be reckoned with, but scientists are facing a number of barriers from funding cuts to pressure to come up with commercial results.
Think of horticultural research, and there is a raft of industry-led projects that focus on problem solving that sit alongside strategic ventures that take a long-term approach. In fact, it is a marathon task to meet the changing and often conflicting requirements at each stage of the supply chain.
The reality is that breakthroughs can’t always be planned, just as Sir Alexander Fleming didn’t expect to revolutionise medicine before his discovery of penicillin and Ray Tomlinson had no idea that his tinkering with computers would create what we know as email.
However, there are signs that this year could mark a turning point for UK research following long-term decline.
The Foresight report on Global Food and Farming Futures set the agenda in January, led by the government’s chief scientific adviser Professor John Beddington, who warned of a “perfect storm” of a growing population, climate change and diminishing resources for food production. The findings are the culmination of a two-year study involving 400 experts from 35 countries and as Beddington puts it, highlight the case for “decisive action and collaborative decision-making across multiple areas including development, investment, science and trade” to tackle food challenges.
The report has got people talking at a time when repeated calls for action have highlighted an impending crisis for research organisations that are battling to secure a long-term position for themselves. This is more important than ever now that the wider issue of food security is being talked about at all levels with the prospect of nine billion mouths to feed by 2050.
It makes sense that research should be prioritised, if the UK is to make progress on these complex and interlinked challenges. But a number of barriers remain, not least the matter of money.
Nevertheless, the UK research sector is taking steps to reposition itself on the world stage and take a more strategic view while at the same time demonstrating the commercial value that it can bring to the economy.
The James Hutton Institute was formed last week from the merger of the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) and the Macaulay Land Use Institute, creating a powerhouse for research into food, land use and climate change that will be the first of its kind in Europe.
The Scottish giant will bring together existing expertise in crop research, soils and land use and will make a major contribution to the study of key global issues, such as food and energy security, biodiversity and how climate change will affect the use of land and production.
The new organisation began operations last Friday, starting with a five-year £100 million funding programme from the Scottish government.
The name is fitting, with James Hutton (1726-1797) a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, an 18th century golden age of intellectual and scientific achievements centred in Edinburgh. He is internationally regarded as the father of modern geology and one of the first scientists to describe the Earth as a living system - in fact, his thinking on natural selection influenced Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
The James Hutton Institute will operate from the two existing sites and will employ more than 600 scientists and support staff, making it one of the biggest research centres in the UK.
Professor Iain Gordon, chief executive of the new organisation, is keen to forge a global reputation for the body and “build on the international reputation of the two fantastic organisations that have come together, each with their own focus”.
“Our aim is to pool the skills and expertise we have across the board, from providing support for industry and policy to more efficient use of land and natural resources,” he says. “Two things that we will be looking at are quantity, in order to meet the global challenges of food supply for an increasing population, as well as quality, primarily focusing on nutritional value so that food will be healthier.
“As a large research organisation, we will be getting ourselves into political arenas where agendas are set both in the UK and outside to see what we should be doing to support the rural sector more broadly and demonstrate the value that research brings to the economy.”
This will be key in future, if the research sector is to prove that this type of work really is worth the investment.
“The message is that often it looks as though funding for research is an expenditure but it is actually income in the long run,” says Gordon. “Investment in science now is investment in the future. I really do feel that in the UK there is a drive for the industry to have an impact. In the end, science will live or die in the UK depending on how the sector can demonstrate that it is relevant.”
The research community is calling for a fresh approach to working with the industry, gaining funding and making the most of the results. Scientists agree that they must continue to develop the tools they have to make processes faster and more accurate, as well as reconsidering where crops can be grown geographically, the effective use of water and the use of treatments and fertiliser. At the same time, they recognise that they will need support to achieve this.
Chris Atkinson, head of science at East Malling Research, insists that there are opportunities for producer organisations and retailers to get more involved in the process. “I emphasise the retail component because they are reticent to say the least,” he says. “They like the idea of saying that they are doing this and that and they understand the value of research but they should have serious discussions with their stakeholders to contribute more to the development of food production. They are the guys in the supply chain with the biggest profit. It’s clearly a subject under discussion but they have to put their hands in their pockets.
“It’s about more than publicity; it’s about underpinning our growers, our nation and its food supply. There is a research community out there, albeit now small, but if everyone wants to, we can solve the problems and make things happen.”
In fact, the UK has been home to thousands of projects and a number of internationally recognised breakthroughs have made it one of the world leaders.
Dr Bill Parker, director of horticulture at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and head of the Horticultural Development Company, credits the fresh produce industry with being “innovative” and “imaginative” with the results of research and he admits that the UK research community is considering new approaches to boost its profile.
“The issue we have now is that because of the screws going into government research funding, we need to look at and be able to do more work that is strategic in nature in the sense that it is forward looking, to see issues that are coming down the track at an earlier stage,” he says. “It does come down to money, but beyond that we see the way forward as collaboration and more strategic alliances.
“The industry itself has been very innovative and taken what research it can, been imaginative with it and seen what is going on in the rest of the world.”
To hold onto its high profile, the UK horticultural research sector needs support from the industry that stands to gain from its work. A co-ordinated approach and a long-term outlook should help secure the breakthroughs of the future.
SETTING THE STANDARD ON TOP VARIETIES
The Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) is now part of the James Hutton Institute, but until now, it has been a world-renowned centre for crop research in its own right.
Its scientists have bred many household names in soft fruit and vegetables such as the UK’s number-one raspberry Glen Ample and what has been hailed as the world’s first environment-friendly potato, Vales Sovereign, which requires less water and fertiliser than other varieties.
In fact, an independent economic impact assessment of SCRI estimated that the organisation, based at Invergowrie near Dundee, generated £160 million of business every year in the farming, manufacturing and retail sectors in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
For every £1 that has been spent by the Scottish government on the SCRI, £17 goes back into the Scottish economy from products that are developed as a result.
SUPPORTING PRODUCTION
The defining moment for East Malling Research (EMR) is the typing, propagation and release of commercial apple rootstocks of precocity and vigour, which became known as the M series.
Rootstock M9 has become the most widely used dwarfing apple rootstock in the world and it has been estimated that more than 80 per cent of the world’s orchards are planted on M9.
This work can be traced as far back as 1912, when the first director, Dr Wellington, started collecting Paradise rootstocks and set about describing and evaluating these before choosing the best.
In fact, the Kent-based body is now breeding apple rootstocks once again.
Dr Chris Atkinson, head of science at EMR, insists that there are new opportunities for research to build on these breakthroughs. “If you look at it on the world stage, the rootstocks have had the biggest impact,” he says. “But obviously, that was a long time ago and we want to look forward to new and exciting challenges.
“I find it difficult to imagine that we will be able to continually refuse the opportunities that GM offers us,” he continues. “We are going to have to make some serious quantum changes if we are going to be able to feed nine billion people by 2050.
“If we had continued here with GM we would be having a very different conversation now. We might be talking about apples that don’t need to be stored at low temperatures, for example. Huge progress was made with that at EMR. Fifteen years ago, we led the world with the technology.
“There was good reasoning to it. We wanted to control the ripening process, not dabble with GM. That would have had a huge benefit with respect to transporting apples and would have given us secure supply in the UK without the huge energy burden.
“That technology could have potentially translated to other crops. Things have moved on now, so we would have to reinvent that technology in order to get that same result now.”
A JOINED-UP APPROACH TO PROBLEM SOLVING
A feature of the UK research community is the ability to join forces with the fresh produce industry to solve problems as they present themselves.
Some of the biggest retailers, research organisations and growers have teamed up for a four-year programme, named SCEPTRE, which aims to find ways of giving growers more crop protection options as the industry braces itself for the effects of new European pesticide legislation.
According to an impact assessment, the changes and product losses could cost the lettuce, carrot and strawberry sectors more than £10 million a year.
ADAS principal research scientist Dr Tim O’Neill is leading the SCEPTRE project on behalf of the Horticultural Development Company and partners include Asda, Marks & Spencer, East Malling Research, Stockbridge Technology Centre, BerryWorld and Total Worldfresh as well as seven agro-chemical and biocontrol companies to name a few.
Aims include identifying solutions and how to get them approved, reducing herbicide usage and devising integrated pest management programmes.
It is hoped that his research will support the development and approval of new products and help growers to devise and implement new integrated pest management programmes.
Dr Bill Parker, head of horticulture at the AHDB, holds up this project as a model example. “It’s an indication of where we would like things to go; taking a cross-sector approach and taking money from different sectors to make a bigger pot to get more bang for your buck.”
RESPONDING TO UK GROWERS
Stockbridge Technology Centre (STC) is celebrating 10 years as an applied R&D facility owned by the UK horticultural industry.
The institute was resurrected by a group of staff and growers after it was closed in 2001 following DEFRA cutbacks.
A decade on, its achievements include informing an EU regulatory programme of the nitrate content of vegetables to ensure that the levels set in the regulations are achievable by UK growers, work on the use of LED lighting in production and urban farming and on the cross-body SCEPTRE project.
STC director Graham Ward insists that the UK research community is picking itself up. “The research base has not shrunk, it has atrophied,” he says. “That total move towards the abyss has concentrated people’s minds a bit and we are working much closer together. We are working to add value to horticultural research.
“STC is a grower-owned institute and it is unique in that, with East Malling Research. We are focused on growers and nothing else and that is the central reason that we have survived for 10 years.”
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