Researchers at the University of Warwick are implementing a new strategy in the coming year to increase dissemination of results and promote training.
Scientists at Warwick Crop Centre, within the School of Life Sciences, who have completed their first year in the re-incarnated successor of Warwick HRI, are to focus on dissemination and training as well as R&D.
The centre’s new director, Dr Rosemary Collier, leads a team of 30 staff with funding coming from DEFRA, the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board, the Technology Strategy Board and private companies.
Senior researcher Rob Lillywhite told FPJ that the Crop Centre is to continue to exploit the results of fundamental and applied research.
Lillywhite said the Crop Centre is working on a number of pieces of research including commissions for DEFRA on water footprinting, energy and food security and leading the Vegetable Genetic Improvement Network to exploit the genetic diversity of vegetable crops and identify valuable traits.
Lillywhite, who leads the centre’s work on water footprinting, added: “We are undertaking a two-year strategic study to assess water consumption of crops by region and country to understand how crop production affects water resources. For example, potatoes grown in Israel and Egypt require more water compared to the UK but both are water poor countries. We are trying to understand how sustainable those positions are, both for domestic and imported produce”.
The Crop Centre is also undertaking work on novel strategies for pest control in field vegetable crops, as well as research on epidemiology and management of a range of plant diseases, all of which will support the UK’s fresh produce industry.
No comments yet